10 Year Reunion
by HalebFanfictions
Summary: Hanna is a big time fashion designer, living in NYC- her 10 year high school reunion fast approaching she returns back to Rosewood for the first time in years and it digs up memories and emotions from her past that she has yet to put to rest. Haleb. Rating is M for some content. DISCLAIMER : I DO NOT OWN ANYTHING. FULL CREDIT TO ALL WRITERS, AUTHORS, AND ACTORS ASSOCIATED WITH PLL.
1. Chapter 1

**Okay, with PLL coming to an unfortunate end..I got the inspiration for this story...because what's a better way to say goodbye than with a reunion? This is the first chapter...let me know what you think and if I should continue on with it. :)**

* * *

Pulling her Mercedes into the Radley parking lot and putting it in park Hanna pulls her phone out of her bag in the passenger seat. She slides it open and texts her mom.

 **Hey, I am here early. Can I go ahead and check in?**

While she waits for a reply she looks around and sighs. Picking up her cellphone she scrolls through her emails.

Company. Company. Company. She stops when she comes across Spencer's email with the title Rosewood High School 10 year reunion. She re-reads it carefully looking over all the information.

 _10 years? There is no way it's been 10 years?!_

It had been ten years since she had graduated high school here and left Rosewood behind for New York. Her life had changed a lot since then, but she had kept up with her close friends, seeing them when their schedules would allow it. Even though she had kept up with everyone, it had been a long time since she had stepped a foot in Rosewood. The last time being when she came back to see Aria and Ezra have their son Jude 2 years ago. She had avoided this place because of all the feelings it dug up inside of her.

 _Why did I decide that coming to this thing would be a good idea…? I just don't think I am prepared for -_

Her phone buzzing in her hand makes her jump. She looks down and sees the reply from her mom.

 **Yes, I am inside. Come in.**

She cuts the engine and steps out onto the asphalt of the parking lot. Popping the trunk, she grabs her luggage and garment bag out of the back before shutting it and making her way to the front of the hotel. When she reaches the front gate of the hotel she can hear her mother start to squeal.

"There is my amazingly talent, beautiful and very much missed daughter!" she calls out as she starts to walk towards her

"Mom!" Hanna calls out as she stops rolling her case and throws her bag down on top as she wraps her arms around her mother.

"Oh honey. We have missed you so much!"

"Mom, you just saw me at Christmas when you and Ted came to New York!"

Ashley pulls back from her but keeps her hands on her daughter's shoulders "I know, but seeing you here, it's…different."

Hanna rolls her eyes "Oh please. It's not any different than seeing me in New York."

"You may not think so, but it is."

"Okay…whatever you say. Come on, when is your break? I brought goodies." She says with a smile

"Hanna, I run the place…I can take a break whenever I want as long as I let the right people know…You know how it is." She says as she grabs the handle of the suitcase and starts to pull it as Hanna grabs her bags and follows.

"So how long are you staying?" Ashley asks as she pulls open the front door and ushers Hanna inside.

"Um, the reunion is on Saturday but I will be here until probably Tuesday before I have to go back."

"Okay, you think that you could possibly swing by the house one night for dinner?"

Hanna scoffs "Of course. I can't tonight because I am meeting up with the girls for dinner and drinks here but yeah, definitely."

When they reach the counter Ashley turns to the man behind the counter there "Ronnie, this is my daughter Hanna Marin…she's going be staying here, I have her on tenth in the suite." she says as he shakes his head and begins to type

"Yes ma'am. Room 1020. I will get those key cards right up for you." He says as he turns back to the screen. The phone beside him rings as he is handing the cards to Ashley

"The Radley Hotel. How may I help you?"

"So –"Ashley starts but is interrupted

"Ms. Marin?" Ronnie says as he pulls the phone away from his ear and puts his hand over the receiver. Ashley turns back to face him "I'm sorry ma'am but t12vhere's a problem with a delivery and they are asking to speak with you ma'am."

Ashley huffs and looks back over at Hanna "I uh...just go on up and I will be up there as soon as I get this handled." She says as she hands the key cards over.

"No problem. Take your time. I know how it goes." she says as she turns and makes her way to the bank of elevators and hits the button. When it arrives she walks in and hits the button for the 10th floor. As the doors close she leans against the cool wall behind her. _So glad I get a vacation from the stresses of work. I wonder if Caroline is having any issues yet. Maybe I should check in...No, no...I am on vacation. Surely she can handle a few days on her on...she knows to call only if it's an emergency._

She thinks as she looks at her phone for any calls or texts. When she first heard about the reunion she had plans to be across the world and at first she was thankful for it. She had kept up with her friends, and they knew most of the story but she hadn't kept up with everybody else that didn't. She knew they would ask...and she didn't know what she would say. Truth was, she didn't want to talk about it, and the memories were already too hard to think about alone, much less over and over again with everybody that asked. The closer it got to reunion time the more and more she homesick she felt. She needed time with her friends, time away from her studio and work, she loved what she did but it had been a long time since she took a step back from it and gave herself a much needed vacation so she canceled her trip and left her assistant in charge for the week - telling her to only call if it was an absolute emergency.

The elevator comes to a stop and she steps off onto the 10th floor and heads to her suite at the very end of the hall. She finds room number 1020 and slides the card down into the door she pushes it open and looks around; Ashley has secured the biggest and best room in the hotel just for her. She rolls her suitcase right inside the door and walks over to the massive windows in the living room portion of the suite and pushes the curtains back. Standing there she takes in her view of the town square; from here she could see all the way to the small church in the middle of her hometown.

 _Venice, Paris, Milan...all those places that I have been too, and this...this view makes them all seem...inadequate._

She pulls the phone out of back pocket of her jeans and slides it open to her camera and snaps a picture of the view. She scrolls through her contacts and adds each girls name to a group text and attaches the photo.

 **Hanna Marin has arrived! Can't wait for dinner tonight. Miss you ladies.**

She hits send and throws her phone down on the table before turning to grab her suitcase and rolling it into the bedroom to unpack. Ten minutes later the sound of the door to her suite opening stops her progress and she walks from the bedroom into the living room to see Ashley standing near the door.

"Hey, you getting settled?" she asks as she walks over to where Hanna stands

"Yeah, just getting everything unpacked. The closet space in this thing is amazing. I almost have room for everything...that's unusual in hotels." she says with a chuckle as she walks back into the bedroom with Ashley following behind her.

"You know you could've stayed at the house while you were home. You didn't have to stay here. Our closets are much bigger." she says as she sits down on the foot of the bed watching Hanna.

"I know I could have but I don't know how long I will be out every night and I don't want to waltz in and out of your house at all hours of the night. Plus, it would feel weird to come home late and not get yelled at about being late for curfew." she says as she pulls more folded clothes out of the bag and puts them in a drawer.

She unzips her garment bag and pulls out a couple of hangers and lays them down on the bed "For you. The latest from the Hanna Marin 'No Place like Home' collection. These babies are fresh off the press." she says with a smile.

Ashley picks up the hangers and looks through the clothes "Han, these are amazing...but you don't have to bring clothes home every time you come...it feels like an abuse of power for me to milk clothes from my daughter - the designer."

Hanna throws her up and gestures around the room "And getting the only suite in this whole hotel for free isn't? Besides, those were inspired by and designed just for you. What do you think...you like?"

Ashley stands and holds them up to her, looking into the mirror across the room "I love them honey, thank you." she says as she sits them down on the bed and walks over to Hanna and wraps her arms around her again "I am so proud of you honey. You've done so well for yourself."

"Thank you Mom" she says as she pulls back from her "But you can't get all sentimental every time I give you clothes...it makes me feel like I am buying you off to make up for the fact that I never get to come home."

Ashley grabs her hands "I just...you always said that you wanted to become a designer...from the time you were able to start dressing yourself, and to see it become a reality it's very...gratifying." Her thumb brushes across Hanna's ring finger on her left hand and she feels a ring there. She looks down and then back up at Hanna "What's this? Are you and Jordan back together and you didn't tell me?"

"What?" she asks then looks back down at her hands and quickly crosses her arms in front of her chest hiding her ring behind her arm "Oh no, it's nothing." she says as she quickly turns back to the closet in hopes that her mom will leave it alone.

"Hanna..." Ashley scorns and it makes her roll her eyes and turn back to face her

"It's really nothing."

"No it's something. Either you two are back on your engagement or...are you just wearing it again for the reunion?" Hanna breaks eye contact at the question "Why would you do that Hanna? Is he supposed to be here?"

"No." Hanna answers quickly...too quickly.

"Then why?"

She sighs and looks up at the ceiling knowing she's getting out of this one "I just...I figured I could wear it while I am here and when people see it they won't ask any questions..." she says as she looks back at her "Questions I don't want to be bothered with while I am here...on vacation."

Ashley sighs "Okay honey, whatever you say...but don't you think it's been long enough now that you can face those questions?"

"I don't know if it'll never be long enough...I just want to come to my class reunion and not having to answer questions about Caleb, that's all." she whispers.

* * *

Two hours later she stands in the bathroom touching up her makeup when her cellphone buzzes on the nightstand in the bedroom. She walks over and slides it open, seeing the girl's group text has a new message from Aria.

 **We're downstairs getting a table. Hurry up, we are excited to see you!**

She smiles and quickly types out her reply before turning to go back into the bathroom to clean up her mess

 **Finishing up now be down in just a sec.**

When she's done cleaning up she picks her phone up along with her hotel key card, sliding them in the back pocket of her jeans and walks into the living room. She picks up the four gift bags she has prepared for the girls and opens her suite door heading for the elevators. She steps in and hits the button for the first floor and she can feel the familiar excitement of seeing her friends start to take over her body. When the elevator stops on the first floor she steps out and heads for the hotel restaurant and bar. She spots them immediately as they sit a table for 5 right in the front of the restaurant all looking over the menu.

When she approaches them Emily glances up at her "Well, there is the busiest woman in New York!" she says as she stands. The rest of the girls look up and when they see Hanna they all smile as Aria squeals with excitement and they stand to hug her.

"Hello ladies." she says as she hugs each one individually before holding up the bags "I brought you all a little something...I hope you don't mind." she says as she starts to hand out the bags out to each of them.

"Something sophisticated for Ali" she says as she hands her a bag "Versatile for work too."

"Hanna! You really don't have to do this every time we see you! I mean, I appreciate it but it's not necessary." Ali says as she looks over her bag.

"I know I don't but...with the reunion coming up it really had me thinking about home so it inspired a brand new collection...I designed each of these individually for you guys and I thought that you could wear them to the reunion." she says with a smile

"Something dress casual for Em." she says as she hands her the bag.

When she turns to Spencer she hands her the bag "Hanna that is really nice but..." Spencer starts but is cut off by Hanna.

"Something plaid for Spence" she says with a smile

"And something colorful for Aria, I also threw a little something in yours for J-man." she says as she hands her the bag

"Thanks!" she says with a smile as she starts to pull the paper out of her bag but stops "Actually now since we are all together I wanted to tell you guys something...I uh...I'm pregnant!"

"What?!" Emily gasps as she sits beside Aria. She reaches out and hugs her "That's great Aria!"

"Thanks...it's a...it's not something we expected but we are very happy. We just found out last week and I wanted to wait and tell you all when we were together."

"Way to go Mr. Fitz!" Hanna playfully calls out as she sits down "You know…what does it feel like to go to your 10 year high school reunion married to one of our teachers?"

Aria shoots her a blank look "You know, I had almost forgotten all about that until now, Thanks Han."

"Sorry...but hey, at least you don't have to worry about being seen together in the school this time around." she says with a shrug of her shoulders "Please let it be a girl...I have been DYING to start a baby Marin collection."

Pretty soon they all fall into comfortable chatter as they begin to catch up on careers and babies. Hanna can feel herself start to relax as they all fall into a familiar rhythm. She missed her friends; there was no doubt about it. When they graduated they promised to always stay close and they did all try too, but sometimes life getting in the way kept them from getting together as much as they liked.

"So Hanna...how's the design business? You seem like you're doing pretty good for yourself." Spencer says as she picks up her martini and takes a drink.

"It's uh...busy." she says with a chuckle "I've hardly slowed down since launching the line that I barely know what day of the week it is most days. I enjoy it though."

"You know I heard that Hanna here is not the only one coming back for this reunion who has a booming business of their own...Lucas is apparently doing really good too." Ali says as she looks over at Hanna who was the only one of the girls to ever really be friends with Lucas

"Yeah, Lucas has always been really smart. I just knew he would invent something. What's his business?" Hanna asks, intrigued.

"Some with computers or something." Aria says as she looks over the dessert menu

"Who else is supposed to be coming?" Hanna asks trying to not make her curiosity noticeable.

"I have the list in my planner of everyone that has RSVP-ed" Spencer says as she reaches down to her bag beside her chair and pulls out her planner.

"Of course she does. I run a business and I am not nearly as organized as she is." Hanna mumbles and Spencer shoots her a look "What? It's true. You probably have your closet and drawers color coordinated still or something."

Spencer stays quiet as she pulls the list out and hands it over to Hanna who scans it with her eyes "Noel Kahn is coming? I figured he would be too busy staring at himself in the mirror to come." she says with a laugh.

Hanna lets her eyes go to the bottom of the list where she sees **Caleb Rivers-N/A** and she lets out a breath. She had a sneaky suspicion that her friends would lie to her and say he wasn't coming so that could get her to, but this confirmed that he was in fact not coming.

Passing list back to Spencer she joined back in their conversation on Emily beating out Paige for the swim coach position last year, mostly just listening to their chatter. Soon, she notices that she had started to get goosebumps on her arms and she could feel the hair and the nape of her neck start to prickle. She sits upright and tries to determine if she has already had too much to drink. Looking up at the girls, she notices the looks on their faces and she knows exactly what is going on.

She leans over to Spencer who looks right past her "I thought you said he wasn't coming?" she whispers. Spencer never takes her stare off of what Hanna knows is him at the front desk checking in. "SPENCER?!" she whisper-screams at her friend and it finally brings her attention back to Hanna

"I uh...I didn't think he was...but how do you even know that? He's been standing there for 5 minutes and you haven't even looked up. I was hoping you wouldn't notice."

Hanna stops, knowing she is caught and stumbles over her words "I uh...I just..." she stops when she sees Spencer open her mouth to talk.

"Hey, uh Caleb. I thought you said you weren't coming to this thing." she says as she stands and gives him a one armed hug, wedging herself in between him and the back of Hanna's chair.

Hanna closes her eyes and wishes that in this very moment a sink hole would appear under her chair so she could fall into it.

 _Maybe if I sit really still he want even notice I'm here..._

She thinks as she holds her breath and sits stock still hoping he won't look down.

"I uh I didn't think I was coming but Toby talked me into it." He says back to her as he looks around the table "Hey girls"

They all except for Hanna mumble a version of 'hi' as they keep their eyes glued to her as she sits there like a deer in the headlights.

 _Crap. You're going to have to speak Hanna..._

She thinks, realizing that she must look like a real bitch ignoring him. She takes a deep breath before she turns in her chair and looks up at him "Oh hey Caleb." She says trying to sound as nonchalant as possible but it only comes out as a whisper as they lock eyes.

"Hanna? I uh...I didn't think that you were coming." He says as he swallows hard and brings his hand to his face, running his fingers over his brows. She can tell by the panicked look in his eyes that he didn't think she would be there either.

 _Yep. Sink hole...swallow me now..._

"I uh - I didn't think-" she stops when they are approached by a girl with dark hair and bright green eyes.

She walks right up to Caleb and he glances over at her and then back at Hanna right as she speaks "Hey sorry, it took me a while to find the bathroom. This hotel is huge." She says to him before she turns to the group of girls.

Hanna and Caleb stand staring at each other, neither of them making even am attempt and turning their eyes away.

 _Breathe in, breathe out. Calm down. It's just Caleb...yeah, only CALEB...the only person that you've ever...oh wow. He looks exactly as I remember...just as damn good looking as ever...but his hair is shorter...and he's more scruffy...but those eyes..._

Finally the girl speaks as she turns o Spencer "Hi, I'm Kamie."

"Spencer." she says confused still watching the stare down between the exes "I'm sorry but do I know you?" she finally asks the girl.

"Uh no, I am here for the reunion...I came with Caleb" she says as she motions over her shoulder at him

Hanna hearing Kamie's words finally blinks and looks over at her before looking back at Caleb who stares down at the ground. He glances back up at her and suddenly; it is as if Hanna can't breathe no matter how hard she tries she cannot catch her breath. She blinks from the girl and then back to Caleb as the ache in her chest gets worse and worse. When she cannot take it anymore and whispers "Excuse me." as she turns from the table and walks towards the bathroom on shaky legas as unwelcome tears spring to her eyes.

She walks into the restroom in a daze like a zombie and finds a stall. Shutting the door she turns and puts her back to it as her hand comes up to her mouth to keep herself from crying.

 _You knew seeing him would be hard...that is why you put this reunion off until you knew that he wouldn't be here...and yet, here he is...and it's been years - you should be over it enough to form sentences...but this is Caleb you're talking about...he has a way of making you act crazy..._

"Hanna?" she hears Emily call out as she enters the bathroom "Hanna?" She takes a deep breath and swings the stall door open and faces her friend.

"Are you okay?" she asks testing Hanna's state of mind.

"Yeah, I am good...just needed to pee. Why wouldn't I be okay...? I mean it's just Caleb." she says as she forces a smile onto her face and walks past Emily to the sink and pretends to wash her hands. She watches in the mirror as Emily slowly takes steps until she stands right behind her.

 _It's just Caleb...? Oh come on...you don't even believe the words coming out of your mouth. You can't really think that she will believe them..._

"Han, you and I both know that it's not 'just Caleb'. Are you sure you're okay?"

"You're right...it's not just Caleb...but it's been a long time Em. A very long time..."

"I know, that's why I am asking if you're okay because you just saw Caleb for the first time in a very long time..."

The tears threaten to surface again as she looks down at the ground and back up to Emily "Yeah" she whispers then clears her throat and speaks louder "Yeah, I am fine."

Emily just looks at her, never saying anything and Hanna knows that she isn't buying it. Hanna blinks and the tears finally run silently down her cheeks; Emily opens her arms and wraps her up in a tight hug.

"I don't know Em…I mean it's been what…8 years? I just…he wasn't supposed to be here...I wasn't supposed to have to see him...and it he isn't supposed to affect me like this still…but he just does." she sighs.

 _It's because even after all this time, you still love him…_


	2. Chapter 2

******Thank you so much for the kind words! So glad you guys like the first Chapter of this story! Here is Chapter 2, I hope it lives up to your expectations. Let me know what you guys think! :)******

* * *

Caleb hits the button for the elevator and when it walks on carrying their luggage with Kamie behind him. He hits the button for their floor and as the doors close he shakes his head and looks over at her. She tries but she cannot hide the smile on her face.

"What's funny?" he asks, slightly irritated

"Was that her?" The blonde?" she asks from the opposite side of the elevator.

"What are you talking about?"

"Oh, don't act like you don't know what I am talking about. Was that Hanna...THE Hanna...did I just meet her? The blonde one."

He sighs and leans up against the elevator wall "Yeah, it was. Why?"

"Because she's..."

"Here?"

"Well yeah but no, she's hot...like REALLY hot."

"Yeah...she always has been. Somethings never change..." he says as he brings his hand to his head "But she's here...and that is just going to make this awkward."

"Why?" she asks as she props her arms up on the railing

"Because I didn't know she would be and I didn't prepare myself to see her again. We didn't exactly end things on good terms...and she's the only person..." he trails off as he thinks about the years they spent together "it's just not a good situation."

"Oh I know all about the situation" she says as she crosses her arms and stares at him "She doesn't know, does she?"

He sighs and lays his bed against the elevator wall again "No, she doesn't...and she's not going to."

The elevator dings on the tenth floor and they walk out and head towards their room. Sliding the card down into the door and pushing it open, he moves and lets Kamie enter in first as he follows behind her. She plops down on one bed as he drags in their luggage in, sitting it down in front of the beds and walks to the second bed and lays down on his back looking up at the ceiling.

She watches him closely before she finally speaks "C, you have GOT to tell her!" she encourages as she can hear him sigh again.

"You know I brought you to this thing as a buffer...not a therapist. I can't tell her..not now."

"Okay, one...that's rude. You brought me here as an excuse for questions that you didn't want to answer...about her. I agreed to come as your date so that I could help you out as part of my friend duties. Plans have changed now and she's here and I don't know if you noticed or not but you two are totally still hot for each other...so this is me being a friend and telling you that you should tell her!"

"Kam, it's been years...I can almost guarantee that things are not the same as they used to be. Plus, did you not see the ring on her finger? She's engaged!"

"Yeah I saw the ring, but I didn't see a fiance.." she deadpans and he lifts his head off the bed and shoots her a look "What? I didn't...and there is a reason you haven't dated anyone in years...at least not seriously. You're still so hung up on her, and I am willing to bet she wants you too. I say you go for it..." she shrugs.

* * *

"Okay, so you thought that if you came here and pretended that your engagement to Jordan was back on that people wouldn't ask you about Caleb...?" Aria asks as she sits on the couch with Emily and Ali watching Hanna pace in front of them.

"Yes" she sighs as she turns to make another round in front of the table.

"And you thought that would be a good idea to keep the questions about Caleb at bay?" Spencer asks sarcastically from the chair

"Yes" Hanna says again as she stops "Are you not listening to me at all?"

"Yeah, Han we are...but we are confused. How did you not think that people that would ask those questions would assume that the ring you're wearing wouldn't be from him?" Spencer asks again.

Hanna stops where she stands huffs before sitting down on the table in front of them "Because he wouldn't be here..." she cries looking to her friends for their support but instead realizing that they keep finding holes in her theory.

"Yeah. but neither is Jordan...?" Aria asks and she receives an icy stare down from Hanna "What? He isnt? Why did you guys call off your engagement anyway?"

Hanna throws her hands up at Aria and gives her another look

"Caleb. Got it." she says as she stands from her spot on the couch "As much as I would love to stay here and help Hanna sort out her feelings for Caleb...I have to get home. Ezra has Jude and god only knows what my house looks like. Lunch tomorrow with me and Jude? He misses his Auntie 'Anna" she asks Hanna.

"Yeah. I will text you." she says as she stands and gives Aria a hug before she turns to walk out of the room.

Hanna plops back down one end of the couch and sighs "This is exactly why I didn't want to come back here...this stupid place and the stupid memories bringing back up stupid feelings."

Emily sits and and rests her elbows on her knees "Han, I know that this isn't the greatest situation...but have you even thought about talking to him about it? I mean I know it's been a long time..but you guys have been through so much together, it doesn't shock any of us that you still have feelings for each other."

Hanna puts her fingers on the bridge of her nose "Did you not notice the girl on his arm when he came over Em? He's got a girlfriend..."

"Yeah, and you had a fiance too, and look how that turned out.." Ali throws out from the other end of the couch.

"God, why is this so hard? I mean it's been so long...and I should've been moved on by now...and I tried...I really did, but Jordan...he wasn't Caleb and I knew I would never be happy with him because of it." she turns her head to the other girls "And I've tried really hard to put those feelings in the back of my mind but every time I do something happens to bring them back up again. A piece of mail, a song, a picture...and I've even gotten myself one of the best therapists in Manhattan, nothing."

"Never give up on something that you can't go a day without thinking about." Spencer says and Hanna looks over at her "Winston Churchill said it." she says as she lays back in her chair.

"Yeah well Elizabeth Taylor said 'Pour yourself a drink, put on some lipstick and pull yourself together' and I think Iike that idea. Who's with me? My treat." she says as she stands from the couch and looks back at her friends.

"Han, I wish I could but I have school tomorrow." Ali says with a sigh as she looks over at Emily

"Yeah and I have a campaign meeting for my mom tomorrow or I would. I could really use a couple more drinks..." Spencer says as she runs her hands through her hair

Hanna looks over at Emily "Well Em, it's up to you..." Emily glances back over at Alison "Oh come on, please. If none of you go with me I will be forced to look like the loser that sits alone at the bar and gets drunk by herself..."

"Fine!" Emily finally says and it makes Hanna clap with excitement "But I can't drink a lot. I have school tomorrow too so I will stay and nurse a drink or two with you...but I am not getting drunk!"

"Fine by me...that just means more wine for me!"

Two hours and several drinks later, Hanna sits at the bar at The Radley happily buzzed with Emily looking after her.

"Mick, I haves another sangria." she slurs as she picks her glass up in the air "And get Emily her, whatever else she wantsss" she says as she pants Emily's shoulder.

Emily leans forward to the bartender "We'll just take two waters please." she says and he smiles back and her and nods his head before walking off.

Hanna sits with her head resting on her hands "You know you can order whatever you want Em. I gots the tab."

She slightly tips off her bar stool and Emily catches her pushing her back upright "Yeah, I know but I think we both need waters.."

"Why? I'm having fun...aren't you? I've missed you." she says as she leans over and wraps her arms around Emily's neck

"Okayy, easy girl" Emily warns "I've missed you too but you're not having fun...you're making yourself miserable on your first day back in town."

She starts to tear up "You're right...you're right. I am making yourself miserable...myself miserable...but" she lays her arms down on the bar top and lays her head on top of them "Why did he have to be here Em? And why can't I just let it go? He's got a girlfriend...and he's so fucking hot." She sits back up at looks over at Emily "Isn't he fucking hot?"

Emily shakes her head "Yeah I guess...if you're into the guy thing, which I'm not."

The bartender walks back up with their glasses and sits them back down in front of them before he turns to walk away. They sit in silence for several moments before Hanna picks up her water and starts to drink while Emily looks on cautiously. When she is done drinking her water she sits the glass back down on the bar before turning back to Emily.

"You read-y to go? I'm ready to go." she whispers to Emily.

They stand and slowly walk to the elevators as Emily keeps a close watch on Hanna in her drunken state. She hits the button and when the elevator arrives they both walk on. Hanna posts herself up in the corner as Emily hits the button for the 10th floor and as the doors shut Hanna finally speaks.

"I'm a mess, I know...I'm sorry. I just -"

"You love him...after all this time you still love him...and you miss him. I know..." Em says as she closes in the distance between them to stand beside her in the elevator. Hanna lays her head on Emily's shoulder and sighs. When they arrive on her floor they walk to Hanna's room, she opens the door and they make their way in.

Hanna walks straight in, stripping off her clothes as she goes while Emily stands in the living room waiting for her to reemerge from the bedroom of her suite. When never does Emily walks through the living room to the bedroom. Standing outside she calls out into the room

"Han? You okay?" when she never receives an answer she calls out "Han?". She pushes the door open and walks into the bedroom. She laughs when she can see that Hanna is laying flat on her back in the middle of the bed. She turns and walks back to the door, she opens it and walks out letting it shut behind her. She checks to make sure the door locks and when she turns back around she is startled.

"Caleb! Oh my god. You scared me." she exclaims as she throws her hand to her heart.

"Em? What are you doing here?" he says as he looks around "Don't you live with Ali?"

Emily's eyes fill with panic as she looks back towards Hanna's door and then turns back to Caleb "Yeah, I do I just...are you here to talk to Hanna or..?"

"Hanna? Why would I be here to talk to Hanna...?" he asks defensively then sighs "No. I am not here to talk to Hanna. I uh - I was just heading back to my room. I went to The Grille and got something to eat."

"You're staying here? On this floor?" Emily asks again

"Yeah...?"

"What room number?"

"1019, why?"

Emily can't help the laugh that escapes her mouth as she turns back to Hanna's door and then back to him "I...I, uh I was just curious. I gotta go, I got school tomorrow...but I will see you at the reunion?"

He shakes his head and watches her confused as she walks off. Before he opens his door he looks at Room 1020 before it finally kicks into his system.

 _Hanna...You have got to be shitting me!_


	3. Chapter 3

**Okay guys, quick chapter update - gotten some request for something like this, I've never written smut so I gave it my best shot...lol. Sorry that it's a shorter chapter but it felt like a good place to end it, let me know what you think! :)**

* * *

 _Getting ready for lunch with Aria she fluffs her hair in the mirror and pouts her lips, fixing her lipstick. Giving herself an overall okay for her appearance she grabs her bag and heads for the door. Swinging it open she stops when she sees Caleb, his hand up looking like he was about to knock before the door opened._

 _"Caleb" she exclaims as she looks around "What are you doing here?"_

 _He looks down awkwardly and then back up with his signature crooked grin but never says anything as he takes a step closer to her standing in the doorway. They stand almost nose to nose and the hot breath on her skin makes thousands of tiny goosebumps break out all over her body; she looks up at him._

 _"Caleb? What are you doin-"she tries to ask but is cut off by his lips on hers. His hands tangle in her hair holding her still the other wrapping around her waist. She doesn't even stop herself from opening her lips to let him in when she feels his tongue skim across her lips. She wraps her arms around his neck and her fingers lace through the hair at the base of his neck. The kiss turns from passionate and deep as she takes a step back into the room, pulling him in with her. He lets go of her with one hand as he reaches behind her to shut the door behind them. They pull their lips apart and stand staring at each other, neither of them saying anything but both working to get their heavy breathing under control._

 _He swallows and finally whispers "I uh …I just…I haven't been able to quit thinking about you…I need this…I need you Han." He looks at her eyes, waiting for permission. She looks into his, and they blaze with a fire that she can easily recognize. She doesn't give herself time to think before she shakes her head yes as she wraps her arms back around his neck brings their lips back together. He reaches down under her butt and lifts her up as she wraps her legs around his waist._

 _He blindly walks them over to the couch and bends to lay her down on her back. He leans up and reaches behind him grabbing the neck of his t-shirt, pulling it over his head and tosses it onto the table. He reaches down to her stomach and grabs the bottom hem of her shirt, she sits up quickly and lifts her arms as he pulls it off of her, discarding it with his on the table. She lays back down and he spreads out on top of her, supporting his full weight on his elbows as he places wet kisses onto her collarbone making her moan in response._

 _He pauses at the base of her neck "God, I have missed that sound. I thought I would die not hearing it" he says on her skin and it drives her wild. She grabs his head and pulls it back up to hers and their lips connect again. She reaches down and fumbles with the buckle of his belt until she gets it unhooked then breaking their kiss long enough to pull it out of the loops of his jeans. He watches her closely, running his nose against hers "You feel the same underneath me…" he whispers as he runs his fingertips down her chest to the button of her jeans and swiftly unbuttons them. She lifts her hips off the couch as he slowly slides her jeans off of her legs and tosses them in the floor. She lays sprawled on the couch under him in just her bra and panties as he sits back on his knees and looks down at her._

 _"You're beautiful Hanna." he says as he takes in the sight of her, before leaning back down. She grabs his earlobe in between her teeth and he sucks in a deep breath making her smile against his neck. She reaches her hands up to his chest and pushes him up, he sits back and she grabs at the button on his jeans. Once she has them unbutton he unzips the zipper and they work to slide them off his hips. He reaches behind her and makes little time unhooking her bra and he plants kisses behind the trail of his hand as he slides the straps off her shoulders. He stops and looks at her one more time before she grabs the hair at his neck and pulls him back down to her, pulling him into a kiss. His hands travel down to her panties and he begins to slide them off, she helps by kicking them off at her feet. They lay there panting, staring at each other, a tangle of naked arms and legs as he positions himself in between her legs. He throws his head back as he slowly moves his hips forward, entering her and her back bows off the couch as she gasps._

 **BEEP BEEP BEEP**

 _He stops and looks around "What was that?" he asks, breathless_

 _"What? Nothing. Keep going." She pleads pushing her hips against him._

 **BEEP BEEP BEEP**

Hanna jolts awake in bed, sitting straight up as she tries to catch her breath. She looks around the hotel room, she's alone. She huffs and throws herself back down onto the bed.

 _Did that just? Did I just have a sex dream about…Caleb? What am I – a 14 year old boy? What the….but man it was just getting good….Now I need a cold shower…_

She thinks before she finally sits back up and looks over at the clock at reads 11:15 AM. She groans and pulls herself out of the bed and heads for the bathroom. Walking in, she starts the shower and hops in. Taking longer than usual she stands under the stream of hot water and tries to wash the memories of her dream from her mind. Once she's done she gets out and starts to get ready, not really feeling like doing too much to herself, she blow dries her hair and pulls it up into a bun. Throwing on a little bit of makeup she makes her way back to the bedroom for the closet. Knowing that lunch with Jude around means playing at the park, she reaches for a pair of yoga capris and a tank top. Pulling on her tennis shoes she throws on a jacket and then grabs her phone shooting Aria a quick text before walking out the door.

 **Hey, I am leaving the Radley now. Meet you at the Brew and then take J-man to the park?**

She grabs the key card off the table and throws it in her bag she as swings the door open to walk out of her room. Her phone buzzing in her hand makes her pause outside her door in the hallway

 **Sounds good. We will be ready when you get here!**

She quickly types out her reply and as she is hitting send, she runs straight into someone. Feeling slightly embarrassed she begins to apologize before ever looking up. "Oh my god, I am so sor-"she freezes when she sees that it is Caleb standing in front of her. He stands chest to chest with her, his hands touching her arms. She looks around slightly confused before she finally squeaks out the words "Caleb? What are you doing here?"

 _I woke up…I know I did…this cannot be another dream…he's really here…_

"I was just heading back to my room…went to get some coffee" he says as he shakes the cup at her. He quickly moves his arms back down to his sides when he realizes that he is still touching her.

She swallows before she can speak again "You're staying…on this floor?" she asks as she glances back down the hallway towards her door, noting that there is only one other door besides her own left.

He chuckles "I uh- yeah…I am. I ran into Emily last night leaving your room…I didn't realize that you were staying here. I figured you would be at your moms."

"Yeah….I am staying here. I didn't want to intrude on my mom and Ted." She brings her hands to her face and rubs it in disbelief "What's….what's your room number?" she asks

 _Oh you have got to be kidding me….first running into him last night, then a sex dream…now literally running into him again and he is staying in the room next to me…this is un-fucking-believable._

He hesitates before he answers "1019…and I know you're staying in 1020 so if it is going to be a problem…I can go down to the front desk and request another room.."

She looks back at him before she answers "No…no...It's fine..." she says with an awkward smile "We're still friends aren't we?"

"Of course we are." he says as he offers her a smile too.

His hotel door swings open and Kamie starts to talk "Caleb, did you remember my-"she stops when she looks up and sees Hanna standing there "Oh hi…I am sorry for interrupting I just..."

"No, its okay I gotta get going. I will see you guys tomorrow night, right?" she asks as she looks from Caleb to Kamie and back.

Caleb shakes his head yes and she smiles back to both of them "Nice to meet you." she says to Kamie and steps around Caleb to walk down the hallway.

He shoots a look to Kamie who mouths 'sorry' to him as they walk back into the hotel room. He shuts the door behind him and leans back on it.

"I am so sorry…I heard you talking outside the door but I didn't hear her. What was she doing up here?" she says as she takes a sip of her coffee

He sighs and walks into the room "She uh…she's staying here….on this floor…in the next room."

Kamie spits her coffee out everywhere and looks at him "WHAT?!"

He sits down in the chair at the desk across from the beds and rests his elbows on his knees with his head in his hands "Yeah, I ran into our friend Emily leaving her room last night. She's in 1020…next door."

"Oh…this is going to get good…" she ways with a wag of her eyebrows.


	4. Chapter 4

**Sort of a filler chapter...but stay tuned, some pretty intense Haleb conversations coming up. Let me know what you think. :)**

* * *

"You had a what?!" Aria squeals shocked as she sits in the swing next to Jude as Hanna pushes him.

"Will you keep your voice down? It's embarrassing enough as it is!" she whispers as she looks around the empty park for ears that could've heard.

"Higher 'Anna!" Jude laughs and Hanna puts more power behind her pushes.

Aria laughs "I'm sorry but that is funny Han."

"I bet it is to you...it's not really that funny to me...and then I ran into him...literally ran into him...did I mention that he is staying in the next room beside mine?"

Aria shakes her head "You did...but hey at least you got your awkward meeting out of the way this morning so dinner tonight won't be weird."

Hanna stops pushing the swing and looks at her "Excuse me, what? Dinner? What dinner?"

Aria looks over at her with wide eyes "Did Spencer not tell you about all of us having dinner tonight at their house?"

Hanna huffs and runs her hands through her hair in frustration "Yeah, she did but she didn't say anything about him coming."

Aria stops Jude's swing and turns to him "J man, why don't you go play in the sandbox for a little while before we head home, okay?" she asks and she smiles at her and shakes his head before hoping off the swing and running over to the sandbox.

Hanna takes his place on the swing next to Aria and they watch him play for just a few minutes before Aria finally speaks "Look Han, all joking aside…I know it's been a long time since you and Caleb saw each other...and the feelings are still there, trust me I get it. I know that it didn't end on very good terms but you are not the same person you were then...neither is he."

"I know, but what am I supposed to say? Sorry I walked out on you 8 years ago and ended it but I've thought about you every day since? Never mind the engagement I said yes to and then ended because I knew I would never be as happy with him as I was with you? It's just..." she trails off as she kicks the dirt under her swing.

"Complicated, I know. I've been there...when I was with Liam, there was hardly a day that went by that I didn't think about Ezra...coming back here, I knew I had to confront it head on and when I did - he felt the same way...and the rest is history."

"You're forgetting one little detail, he came back with a girlfriend..." she says with a shrug "If he's happy I cannot ruin that for him..."

"That is something that you need to face too, if he's happy and you don't want to ruin it...can you just be friends with him?"

"When I said we were friends this morning, I knew that I probably didn't mean it. I don't know if I can just be friends with him...no matter how much I think about him."

"Then if you talk to him, maybe you can put it all to rest so you can move on...it sucks but you gotta do what's best for you. You can't spend the rest of your life wondering what would've happened if you had done this different or that different..."

"Yeah, you're right...I can't. I just don't know if there are any words I can say to make up for the way it all came crashing down."

"Don't try to make up for it, just apologize and tell him exactly what you've told us...just leave out the part about the dream...that might sound a little creepy." she says with a laugh.

Hanna rolls her eyes but cannot stop the smile that creeps up over her face "You know, that's the last time I tell you any personal info..." she says as she playfully pushes Aria's shoulder "But thanks for the pep talk Aria. You don't know how much I've missed this."

"Aww, is NYC not keeping you warm at night? I'm kidding but hey, if you get things figured out...maybe you can start coming back more often. We miss you not being around very often. Rosewood's just not the same without one of my best girls."

* * *

When Hanna leaves the park, she heads for the school to help Spencer set up for the reunion. She pulls into her old parking spot and looks around...noting that everything looks the same. As she walks up to the front steps she stops and lets her mind wonder back to the memories that this school brings up in her mind.

 _I met him right here...on these steps. At the time, I didn't realize that it would change up everything...maybe she's right... I do just need to talk to him..._

She thinks as she lets out a sigh and walks into the school for the first time since she left 10 years ago, she stalks the hallways to find Spencer. Opening the door to the auditorium, she sees her standing at a table putting a tablecloth across it. "Spencer Hastings Cavanaugh!" she yells across the room making Spencer turn around. She walks up to her and throws her arms out "You mean to tell me that you accidentally forgot to mention that Caleb was going to be at dinner? So what, now I have to not only have to be odd man out with the rest of my friends, I have to spend the night with Caleb and Karie."

"Okay, first it's Kamie –"Spencer starts

"Same thing." She huffs in response as she crosses her arms in front of her chest "Look, do you have any idea how awkward this is for me? I mean he is staying in the room right next to mine at the hotel, this morning I had a dream about…sex with him, then an hour later I run smack into him...like we touched...for the first time. Have you ever had the dream where you show up to school and you're completely naked…this will be more awkward than that." she says then looks back at Spencer, noticing the look of panic on her face.

"Hi…" a voice squeaks from behind her and it makes her immediately throw her head back and look at the ceiling.

 _You have GOT to be kidding me!_

She slowly turns around to face Kamie standing behind her with tablecloths in hand "Kamie…hi. Nice to see you again, how long have you been standing there?" she asks quickly.

"Since the part about the sex dream…" she says with a chuckle.

Hanna immediately turns back to Spencer who now stands behind her "Scratch that…this is more embarrassing than the naked at school dream."

"Yep. I believe it." She says as she picks up the tablecloths folded in the chair at the table "I'm just going to go put these on that table way over there." she says as she picks them up and quickly makes her way across the room.

 _Thanks Spencer!_

Hanna sighs and turns back to her "Look, I uh…I'm sorry for what you heard. I don't what Caleb has told you…if he has told you anything…but um, we have a bit of a history from several years ago so don't take anything I said personal. I am happy for you two." she looks down at her hands knotted in front of her "I probably sound like a total bitch but um, it's…complicated."

"Oh, I know who you are and I've heard all about the history between the two of you…it's pretty…deep."

"Yeah, it uh…it is…was…it was." she stops and looks back at her "I just don't want you to think that I don't like you because it's not like that…I just…it's hard to be around him."

"I understand…look, you should know that I um I'm not -"

"Kam?" Caleb calls from the door as he walks in, spotting Hanna on his way over to her "Oh hey Hanna, are you here helping Spence too?" he asks as he looks between the two of them.

"Yeah, I uh…I offered to help her set things up. Then I ran into…Kam here so we were just talking." she says as she shoots Kamie a look and she smiles back at her

"Yeah, I just wanted to come and introduce myself to her. You know I love her stuff so it's like meeting a celebrity for me." she says with a laugh as she looks over at Caleb who watches Hanna.

"Yeah, she's talented…always has been." He says and it makes Hanna smile "You ready to go?" he says as he turns back to Kamie.

"Um, yeah…let me just go get my stuff." She says to him before turning back to Hanna "It was so nice to meet you Hanna." She says with a smile before she turns to leave.

"You too." she calls back as she crosses her arms in from of her, not making eye contact with him.

They stand there in awkward silence for a long time before he finally clears his throat and speaks "I know I haven't said it yet, but congratulations on your business…I always knew that you could accomplish it."

"Thanks. I uh- I really enjoy it. Listen...I -" she starts but when she spots Kamie walking back up she stops "I really need to get started helping Spence…but I will see you guys tonight." she says as she walks off, turning the corner and letting out a deep breath when she is out of earshot.

 _What the hell am I thinking? I can't tell him...not with her here..._

She turns around and heads back into the auditorium to help Spencer start setting up tables. When she finally finds her, Spencer opens her mouth to say something but is shot down by one look from Hanna. They work in silence as Hanna tries to collect her thoughts and get her mind right for tonight.

Two hours later they are finally done and sit to take a break. Spencer watches Hanna closely. She takes a drink of her water and then turns to her friend "I'm sorry for blowing up on you like that…I am sure you are all well aware that I am totally out of my element when it comes to Caleb…"

"Hey, I get it...and I am sorry for springing it on you, but while we are on the subject of Caleb and awkwardness I feel like I should tell you that he's gonna be sitting with us at the reunion." She says quickly then gauges Hanna's reaction "I know and I'm sorry but Toby talked him into coming and he asked that he sit with us so that…you know the whole gang could be back together…"

Hanna looks down then whispers "Yeah, except the whole gang won't be back together." She looks back up at Spencer and finds a fake smile "But it will be fine…I will be fine."

* * *

"No Caleb, I'm not going. You need to tell her and you need to tell her now. So tonight is the perfect time to do it." Kamie says as she takes a sip of her wine at the bar of The Radley.

"Kam, I asked you to come with me here, I can't just leave you sitting at the hotel while I hang out with my friends...that would be kinda shitty."

"Don't worry about me...I will be fine. I will hit up the spa at the hotel...get some food... You just go get your girl back."

He huffs and looks at her "How many times do I have to tell you that it isn't like that with Hanna and me anymore...we're friends...that's all."

"Yeah, you two can keep telling that lie to people who will believe it. I've only just met your friends and I can already tell that they know its BS. I bet you good money that you two won't be able to keep your eyes off each other tonight…possibly even your hands" she says as she raises her eyebrows at him and gives him a look.

"You're right...I probably won't, my eyes at least but that doesn't mean I can't try to just be friends with her. She's moved on...and possibly engaged...I won't get in the way of that."

She picks her drink up again "Uh huh. You know what I am going to say...you need to TELL HER!"

He chuckles and shakes his head as he takes the last drink of his beer "You're impossible." he says as he stands and pulls out money from his wallet handing it to the bartender. He reaches into the front pocket of his jeans and pulls out his car keys "Here. I can walk to Spence's from here...it's not that far so you can use the Jeep if you need to go anywhere...just don't wreck it please."

She takes the keys from his outstretched hand "Thanks...I am not sure I will need them, but I'm going to take them anyway. Hey, maybe you can get a ride back with Hanna..." she says with a giggle as he is walking off.

He turns to look at her before turning to leave the hotel, leaving her at the bar to enjoy her drink. As he walks down the sidewalk on the way to the Cavanaugh's house, he lets the possible conversations play through his mind. Going over what he may say if it comes up.

 _Just tell her I thought about it and I cannot live another day without you...no...tell her that you still love her and see where it goes...no why don't you just listen to Kam and tell her about that night..._

His thoughts end there when he reaches their house, knowing that he is earlier he knocks on the door. Toby opens the door "Hey man. Come on in."

* * *

Hanna stands in front of the mirror in her hotel room and looks over her outfit that she finally has settled on. She had spent an hour digging her wardrobe trying to find something she felt was appropriate, finally settling on a dress and denim jacket with booties. She didn't know why but she felt the uncontrollable urge to compete with Kamie and what she could be wearing.

 _You need to chill girl...it's just a friendly dinner with the rest of our friends...not a date...and he's bringing a date._

She sighs and walks over to her nightstand and picks her necklace and earrings and puts them on, when she reaches for her ring she hesitates. Deciding that her friends were right that she couldn't hide behind a fake engagement, she leaves it sitting on the table and grabs her phone to throw in her bag. She looks towards the clock and see the time.

 _Hmmm...ready ahead of time, that is a first...Maybe I should get a drink before I leave...to calm my nerves...yes, I think I will._

She thinks as she walks out of her room and heads for the elevator. She hits the button and when it arrives she pushes the button for the lobby and as the doors close she leans back on the elevator. When the doors open she walks off and heads for the bar but stops in her tracks when she sees Kamie sitting there at the bar talking to someone. He turns his head and Hanna gasps as she recognizes him.

 _Noel Kahn...what is she doing with him..._

She stands watching as Kamie starts to laugh at whatever dumb joke he has told her. When he reaches out the tucks a piece of hair behind her ear, Hanna can't help but fill the rage that echoes through her body. Before she knows it, her feet are carrying her in the direction of the bar and she walks right up to them. Noel seeing her first he turns his attention to her

"Hello Hanna." he purrs with his signature smile.

"Hi Noel. It's been a long time." she says as she puts on her best fake smile as Kamie turns around and looks at her "Kamie, can I talk to you?"

She looks from Hanna to Noel and back "Yeah, sure." she says as she gets off her bar stool and Hanna grabs her elbow leading her far enough away from Noel so that he cannot hear their conversation.

"Look, I'm going to say this as nicely as possible...I seen what was going on here and I feel like I should just go ahead and let you know that you really need to rethink flirting with Noel Kahn...I mean, you have Caleb and trust me when I say that he is as good as they get. Some people would kill to have someone like him...and I personally care a lot about him and I don't want to see him get hurt, so I am telling you now...if you hurt him...I will make sure you live to regret it. Got it?"

Kamie opens her mouth to speak but Hanna continues "Good. Now, I think it would be best that you take your wine elsewhere before you really piss me off." she says as she turns and walks off to the doors. When she finally reaches her car, she climbs in and sits for a few minutes. Her heartbeat in her ears is deafening and she takes a few deep breaths to get it under control before she starts the ignition and pulls out of her parking spot heading for the Cavanaugh's.

She pulls into the driveway of their house and hops out of the car, still fuming from her run in with Kamie. She walks up to the door and knocks and when Spencer opens the door she walks right past her on a rant.

"You will never believe what I saw as I was leaving the hotel..." she says but she doesn't want for Spencer to say anything as she turns back around to face her "That…slut is so using Caleb. I saw her flirting with Noel Kahn as I was leaving…Noel freakin Kahn. Who does that?! Does she not realize how lucky she is to have him…? I mean I could go back and do it all over; I wouldn't have done what I did to him. He's at the top of the dating food chain and Noel Kahn…well he's a solid 6…but he's a douchebag."

She looks at Spencer who has a smile spread across her face and she immediately knows what's going on "He's behind me, isn't he?" she asks as Spencer shakes her head yes.

She turns around and looks at him as he stands in the doorway to the kitchen with Toby, beer in hand "Hey Caleb…can I talk to you?"


	5. Chapter 5

**Gotten a couple questions about when I would get an update up. This is a really short update but I figured I would go ahead and get it up for you guys. The rest of the dinner update coming very soon, I promise. Let me know what you think! :)**

* * *

She turns around and looks at him as he stands in the doorway to the kitchen with Toby, beer in hand "Hey Caleb…can I talk to you?"

She crosses the room and looks at him, waiting.

"Uh, yeah…" he says as he puts his beer down on the kitchen counter. She walks past him through the kitchen to the backdoor. Opening it up she walks out into the back yard and he follows behind her, shutting the door behind him.

Toby and Spencer walk into the kitchen, looking out the window behind the sink, watching them.

"What's that all about?" Toby asks as he wraps his arm around her waist.

"She apparently saw Kamie getting touchy feely with Noel Kahn as she was leaving the hotel. I bet a lot of money that she flipped out on her and is telling him so he will end things with her. I mean, she's a nice girl…but they don't seem into each other or something. Maybe I am just used to seeing him with Hanna. Those two…are still so in love. It's insane that they won't just tell each other." She says as she watches them from the window, cheering her friend on.

"Totally true…except the part about Kamie. She's not his girlfriend…you knew that right?"

Spencer swings her head around and looks up at her husband "What?! No…I didn't. What do you mean not his girlfriend? Who is she then?"

"They are friends, from way before he came to Rosewood. When he moved to Philly they met up. They are just friends Spence. He's so hung up on Hanna still, he won't date anyone. He brought her here so that people wouldn't ask him about Hanna."

Spencer turns back to the window and watches them as they talk outside "Yeah I know…" she says as she leans her head on his shoulder.

* * *

Hanna and Caleb walk out into the back yard far enough away from the house to get some privacy from their friends. Hanna knows that they are probably opening a window so that they can hear their conversation. Looking back towards the house she sighs and then turns her attention back to Caleb "We're friends, right?"

"Of course." he says as he shakes his head yes and crosses his arms in front of his chest "Why?"

She takes a deep breath "Well as your friend...I have obligations to tell you things that maybe hard for you to hear but are beneficial to your wellbeing...like you look really good in khakis and you should wear them more often" she says as she looks down at his pants "But you look uncomfortable with your shirt tucked in so don't do that...it's a nice shirt by the way." she says, recognizing it as one from her line "And I really don't like your girlfriend...Kallie..."

He looks down at his shirt and untucks it from his pants "Kamie." he says with a chuckle "For one, you're right. I feel so much better now." he says as he gestures down to the untucked shirt tail "Now, what's wrong with Kamie?"

"Yeah, Kamie...I don't like her. She's not really what I would consider your type...plus as I was leaving the hotel I saw her cozying up to Noel Kahn." she says quickly hoping to lessen the blow.

"Well, if she wants Noel than she can have him. We're not really in a -"

"Oh my gosh, please don't say you guys are in one of those open relationship things..." she says with a look of horror on her face

He laughs again and looks down at the ground "We uh, were not really in a relationship...she's uh she's not my girlfriend. She's a close girl friend...but not girlfriend."

She shoots him a weird look before he finally lets out a deep breath "I uh...this is going to make me sound pretty lame...but um, I asked her to come with me so that people would think she was and not ask me questions about you...no offense...I just, didn't want to rehash it over and over again for everyone...because you know they would ask."

Hanna lets out a giggle and looks over at him "Yeah, I know what you mean." she says as she holds her hand up to show an empty ring finger "Not engaged...I was, just haven't been for a while I just didn't want to be that girl that has to tell everybody she ruined our relationship over her career" she says as she shifts awkwardly in front of him.

He watches her closely before he speaks "I uh...I guess we think more alike than we thought." he says and he watches her smirk and she shakes her head "While we are on the subject, I'm really proud of you Han. You made your dream come true...and that's awesome."

"Yeah well, I had no other choice really. I put it before everything else in my life so I decided I damn well better make it count, right?" she says and then looks around "So, we can call a truce on the awkwardness...at least between the two of us...looks like I have some apologizing to do to Kamie because I totally jumped her case at The Radley." she says with a roll of her eyes.

He chuckles "I am sure she understands...she's a pretty chill girl. You would like her."

"Maybe. How did you meet her anyway?"

"We uh...we stayed in the same foster home for a little while when we were younger. When I relocated to Philly I ran into her...we've been close ever since."

"Does she know?"

"About us? Yeah, she uh...she does." he says as he focuses his eyes on their feet.

Feeling the tension start to overcome them Hanna clears her throat "Well...let's not go back to that, shall we?" she says with a smile as she sticks her hand out "Friends?"

He smiles up at her "Friends." he says as he sticks his hand out to shake hers. When their hands touch, electricity shoots through both of them, making Hanna gasp. She looks down at their hands and then back up at him before quickly pulling her hand away.

"Let's not leave our other friends waiting." she says as she turns back to the house. Closing her eyes as if saying the word friends hurt her, she lets out a deep breath trying to keep her composure.

He watches her walk off and tries to open his mouth. When he finally does get it open, he closes it back and hangs his head, following her back into the house to join everybody. As they walk in they notice that Ezra and Aria have arrived as have Emily and Ali.

"Hey guys!" Hanna calls out as they walk in the door, walking over to hug the girls.

"Well? How'd that go?" Aria whispers as Hanna leans down to hug her.

Hanna pulls back and looks at her as tears start to form in her eyes. Aria gives her an eyebrow raised look and Hanna closes her eyes "It uh...it went." she whispers back. When she opens her eyes, the tears are gone and she puts on her best brave face.

 _Friends…?_


	6. Chapter 6

**Sorry for the delay on the chapter update guys! I am so glad you are liking this story so far! As promised, deep Haleb conversation here. Stay tuned, it's gonna get deeper! Let me know what you think! :)**

* * *

When they all crowd around the table for dinner, Hanna and Caleb sit directly across from each other, occasionally exchanging a look and smile. After their talk, things are less awkward but still so very tense,for both of them. They all move around in comfortable conversation and pretty soon, it is as if all the years haven't passed without them doing this. After they have eaten, the guys fall into a conversation about sports at one end of the table while the girls all begin to talk about the reunion.

Ali sits her wine glass down on the table "Oh, Hanna I forgot to tell you Em and I tried on our outfits you gave us for the reunion, they are so adorable."

"Yeah, mine too actually. You said it was part of your new line?" Spencer asks as she looks over at Hanna.

She takes another sip of her wine and glances up at Caleb who laughs at Toby. He looks over at her and offers her a smile and she quickly turns her attention back to the girls "Uh, yeah. It's part of the new line...and the ones I gave you ladies were inspired by you and designed for you...There are several outfits a piece inspired by you guys actually."

"What about us? You got any inspired by us?" Toby calls out as he gestures to the other two guys sitting there making Ezra laugh and shake his head in agreement

Hanna looks over at Caleb again and then back to Toby before answering "Of course T...of course." she says with an awkward laugh. She looks back across the table at him again before turning getting back into conversation at her end of the table.

After a few more minutes of chatter Toby finally stands at one end of the table "We're gonna go get the fire going in the pit." he says as he walks over to Spencer and kisses her on top of the head. Ezra follows behind him, placing his hand on Aria's shoulder as they walk out the back door. Caleb stands and glances at Hanna before he walks out behind Ezra, shutting the door behind him.

Hanna sags in her chair and lets out a deep breath, and closes her eyes. When she opens them, all eyes are on her "What?" she asks as she picks up her plate and heads for the kitchen.

"Oh you know what." Spencer calls out as she picks up her own plate and follows behind her with the other three on her heels "You two talked out there, and you come back in here and it's just like old times...did you tell him?"

Hanna sits her plate down into the sink and puts her hands on the counter with her back to the girls "We talked yes, but did I tell him? No...it's just less awkward because I now know Kamie isn't his girlfriend and he knows that Jordan is no longer my fiancé so we're not dancing around that anymore. We're...comfortable...kind of."

"WHAT?!" Ali and Emily say in unison then turn and look at each other

"So you did tell him that you weren't engaged though?" Aria asks as she walks beside Hanna to put her plate in the sink.

"Yeah I did tell him that part." she sighs and turns around to face the rest of the girls.

"So why did you not tell him everything?" Spencer asks as she pulls the wine out of the refrigerator and sits it down on the island in between all of them.

She crosses her arms in front of her "Because ' _I'm just a girl, standing in front of a boy asking him to love her_ ' was a little too deep of a conversation to be standing in our best friends' backyard...with at least two eavesdroppers.." she says as she looks pointedly at Spencer who quickly looks away "And because...imagine that I would've told him...and imagine if he wouldn't felt the same way...this dinner would have turned out a completely different way than it did..." she says as she turns her head and looks out the window at the guys trying to start the fire in the backyard "You know who thought it would be a good idea to let them play with matches..?"

"You're scared to tell him, aren't you?" Emily asks making Hanna turn her head back around to face them.

She sighs and hesitates before finally answering "I um...okay, yeah maybe I am a little nervous to say anything" she says as she runs her hands through her hair "You guys have no idea how bad it was. I left things in such a mess with us that last night when he left New York...I wouldn't blame him if he told me where to go and how to get there." she says as she trails off and looks back out the window again.

"He wouldn't do that Hanna, I guarantee you he won't. You just need to tell him...it's time, it's been past time." Spencer encourages

Hanna throws her head back and looks up at the ceiling "Yeah, I know I do."

The girls walk in towards her and they all wrap there arms around her in a giant group hug. "And I promise, if he tries to tell you where to go, mama bear will go straight crazy on him." Aria says, making Hanna and the rest of the girls laugh.

The back door opens and then girls quickly separate as all three pile back into the kitchen "Did we just interrupt a girl power movement or something?" Ezra asks playfully and he gets the side eye from his wife in return, making him throw his hands up in defense.

"We were having a girl moment, yes...and you three interrupted, yes...and I don't see either one of you burned so what did you need?" Aria sarcastically calls back to him as he walks up to her and kisses the back of her head

"Easy girl." he whispers as she giggles.

 _Oh my god, make me jealous why don't you?_

She thinks as she looks over at Caleb who stands propped up in the doorway. He laughs at the show going on until he sees Hanna looking at him. He looks over at her and smiles as their eyes linger on each other for a little too long.

 _Tell him Hanna, just tell him..._

"I-" she says aloud and when everybody stops talking and turns to look at her she chickens out "I have to pee." she says as she finally takes her eyes off of him and ducks out of the room embarrassed of her outburst.

 _Get yourself together woman!_

She thinks as she makes her way through their house to the bathroom. Shutting the door behind her she leans her back against it and locks the handle. She slows her breathing and runs her fingers through her hair..."What the hell are you thinking?" she whispers to herself as she makes her way in and sits down on the edge of the tub. She lets the events of the night run through her head, trying to wrap her mind around what has happened.

A knock on the door pulls her out of her thoughts and makes her jump "Yes?" she calls out quickly, standing and walking back to the bathroom door.

"Han? You okay?" Caleb calls out from the other side, making her arms break out in goosebumps.

She runs her hands through her hair again in embarrassment "Yeah, I am good. I will be out in a minute."

When she hears him walk off from the door she lets out a deep breath and walks over to the sink to check out her appearance. Fixing a little smudge in her makeup she walks back towards the door and swings it open. Walking through the house she jumps when she makes it through the kitchen door to see Caleb standing at the fridge

"Oh my god...Caleb, you scared me." she says as she jumps back from the doorway, throwing her hand to her chest.

He shuts the door and turns to her "Sorry...I just -I know how well you handle wine so I was just making sure you were okay."

"How do I handle wine exactly?" she jokes as she crosses her arms and raises her eyebrows at him.

"Not very well," he says with a chuckle as he sits some beer down on the counter "I've seen you drink it a number of times, and every time someone ends up

covered in puke."

"Hey, that was one time thank you very much...and I drank on an empty stomach...trust me, I felt much worse than you did." she says as she smiles and points at him.

"I doubt that...you puked in my lap...not in the floor, not out the window...but in my lap in the back of a cab. I literally pulled my pants off and threw them in the dumpster outside our apartment and had to walk up three flights of stairs in my boxers, carrying you because you were passed out..."

She giggles "So maybe you win that one..."

"CALEB, BEER!" Toby calls out from the back door as he opens and closes it.

They laugh at him and Caleb picks up the bottles off the counter and looks back at her "Come on. Fire is ready, but you might want to grab a blanket, just in case." he says as he nods his head to the folded blanket on the table as he walks towards the door. He turns back and looks at her "Girls have the wine out there too, by the way."

She picks up the blanket from the table and follows him out the door to the group crowded around. She notices that there are only two empty seats left on a bench - only her and Caleb left standing. She rolls her eyes at their friends' not so subtle attempt at getting them close together. She walks over and sits down on the bench, shooting Emily a look as she does.

"Wine?" Emily asks with an apologetic smile

 _Probably going to need it being this close to him._

"Yes." she says as she picks up the glass and holds it out for Emily to pour some in her glass, taking a long drink of it when she's done pouring.

An hour later she sits happily buzzed as she listens to all the chatter going on around her, joining it when she can. Caleb sits beside her talking to Ezra as she leans in talking to Emily and Ali about the current happenings at Rosewood High School. She can just barely hear the guys comparing notes about Europe. She shifts uncomfortably on the bench closer to Emily, trying to get out of ear shot of their conversation.

"Man, you have to go see a bull fight in person…most fun I have ever had."

"Oh please, that was awful!" Spencer calls out, butting into the conversation

When she cannot take anymore, she stands from her spot and tips over a little as she does "You're a little drunk, aren't you?" Caleb asks as he reaches up to balance her by grabbing her arm.

She looks down at his hand that rests on her forearm and shivers run down her spine him "No...I'm fine...I ssswear." she says as she looks down at him before turning to walk back towards the house.

Caleb looks across to Aria who quickly takes another drink of her water before calling out "Han, where you going?"

"I gotta pee!" she calls out as she wobbles to the house.

The girls all exchange looks before Aria finally stands "I got this." she whispers to him as she walks past him, heading towards the house.

Opening the door, she finds Hanna standing at the refrigerator guzzling a bottle of water. She looks up when she walks in but holds her finger up as she finishes drinking the water she throws the bottle in the trash and looks over at Aria "What the hell are you doing?"she asks.

"Sobering up. I hadn't planned on drinking this much, but it is hard not to when all I can hear is your husband and Caleb going on and on about Europe and all I can hear in my head are the last words we said to one another, it's depressing….so I am sobering up and leaving." she says as she hiccups and pulls another bottle of water out of the fridge and starts to drink it.

"Okay, one slow down before you make yourself sick" she says as she takes the bottle out of her hand "I deal with enough puke at home…I don't need it here too." she stops and looks at Hanna who shakes her head in understanding "But I hate to tell you, you aren't driving a golf cart, much less a car...not now."

"I don't plan on hoping behind the wheel this minute…"

The door opening makes them turn and look as Caleb walks in, carrying empty beer bottles to throw in the trash.

Aria turns to him "Tell her she's not driving anywhere." She says and turns back to face Hanna who gives her a pointed look and throws her arms up.

Caleb shuts the fridge and puts the beer bottles down on the island "What? No…you're not getting behind the wheel of any car."

Hanna grumbles "I do not plan on going anywhere right now but eventually I do have to leave. Nobody seems to even be concerned about how Ali and Emily are getting home, and they have drank just as much as I have."

"Ali and Emily came with us so…they have a sober driver to take them home You, do not. Do not make me go mama bear crazy on YOU, Hanna Marin because I will if I have to." She says as she raises her voice to get her point across.

Hanna and Caleb both look at each other and he gives her a shrug as he turns to walk back out the door carrying more beer with him.

 _Damn. She's got this mom thing down pat._

"Okay, fine." She sighs and rolls her eyes

"Good, now…let's get back out there with them." she says as she hands Hanna back her water bottle and turns her around by the shoulders to walk out the door.

She plops down on the bench sulkily beside him as he talks to Ezra. When she does, he turns to her and whispers "She's right ya know...you need to either stay here for the night, walk back with me, or I can drive you...but you have had too much to drink to drive tonight."

She looks down at the bottle in his hand "One problem with this scenario is that you've been drinking tonight too, so if I can't drive neither can you."

"Want me to let you in on a little secret? I've been holding this same bottle all night...you just haven't noticed." he says with a grin as he shakes the still half full bottle at her.

She rolls her eyes and chuckles "You're such an ass."

* * *

They ride in silence before Hanna finally sighs and leans her head against the window "Just for the record, I am no where near drunk. I could've driven myself back to the hotel."

"Maybe...but why upset the pregnant lady, right? Plus, we all care about you Han...we're just trying to do what's best for you." he says as he never takes his eyes off the dark road in front of them.

 _We do...care...?_

"Yeah, well...and what is with the whole one beer thing? You seriously held that one beer the entire night? Why?"

He chuckles slightly "It was a trick I picked up when we lived in New York...when you would start with the wine. I would just hang onto the same beer all night so I could get us home safely, you never knew the difference. I have to do it sometimes with Kam in Philly...you know me...I always have to- "

She looks at him "Protect everybody? Yeah, I know...first time seeing me in years, and you still end up trying to keep me safe. ..somethings never change. You really are my hero Caleb Rivers." she laughs and then before she can stop herself the words fall from her mouth "Listen, speaking of New York...I uh, I am really sorry...I never got the chance tell you that...but I am sorry, for leaving...the way it ended, all of it. I was a real selfish bitch back then. I can't tell you how many times I have replayed that night over and over in my head wishing I could've done it all differently."

He glances over at her and then back at the road "Hey look, you made a decision and so did I...we both probably could've handled it differently but there is nothing we can do to change it now."

She shifts in her seat and looks over at him "I know. You ever think back on it and wonder what would've happened if we did? If we would've handled it differently?"

He pauses for a moment and clears his throat before answering "Yeah…I uh, I think about it…a lot actually."

"How did we go from being best friends to feeling like we are complete strangers?"

"You know you may think of it that way but I don't feel that way at all. I mean sure we haven't seen each other in years, but I still feel like I know you a lot better than anyone else…and I know that you know me a hell of a lot better than anyone I've spoken to in the last few years."

"Yeah, I know you do. You know me better than almost anyone…even after all these years, you probably still know me better. But we haven't even been friends Caleb."

"Well, we're friends now right?" she leans her head over and gives him a look "What? You said we were friends..?"

"Yeah, I did...we...are but maybe if we had handled something a little different…if I would've just stayed…or if I would've came back a little sooner, things would be so different now. I mean, we may have still broken up but at least we might could have saved a friendship out of it years ago…because I can't even begin to tell you how many times I have wanted to call you since you left New York that night…just to talk to you."

He looks over at her confused "What do you mean?"

"I mean just to call and talk to you. Just to catch up, see how you were, hear your voice." she pulls on her seat belt and shifts in her seat "Like I remember the night I launched my line…I stood backstage in this really freaking expensive dress that 6 weeks earlier was just a sketch on a piece of paper in our old apartment and I was surrounded by this glam squad and all these beautiful models. They were all wearing my clothes…my designs. That should've been the happiest night of my life but as I watched the last model walk off that stage, I started to get nervous…and when they all lined up and I followed them back onto that stage…when the lights hit my face I immediately thought 'God, I wish Caleb were here…' I walked out on that stage and I looked to the left of the runway where you would've been and Jordan was there…and I wanted to cry because I just really wanted you to be there…." she looks back down at her hands and then clears her throat "I knew that if you would've been so proud of me. You worked your ass off so that I could do this, you deserved to be there as much as I did."

"I am proud of you Han...and I am sure Jordan was proud of you too."

She stops when the tears come to her eyes. She takes a deep breath and focuses her stare down on her hands before continue "Yeah well. I just really wanted you there...to talk to me...to calm me down with that look you give that makes everything better. I needed you and...and I know that it is my fault and I am sorry. I should've never taken it for granted…you for granted…who knows what would've happened if I hadn't. Our lives might be so different than they are now." She reaches up and wipes the tears from her eyes and turns her head away from him to look out the window. "I'm just sorry Caleb.."

He pulls into the parking lot of the hotel and puts the car in park before he turns to look over at her "I'm sorry too…" She looks over at him and their eyes meet, he smiles at her and it makes her smile "Really I am, I shouldn't have left things like that...I was just really mad. Things between us had just gotten really strained and...I don't know, I really thought that when I said I wouldn't be there when you got back that you would stay and go with me...I guess that made me really selfish too..." he glances down and back up at her "But at least now we know that we can still find some way to be friends."

"Yeah.." she whispers "We can." She says with a forced smile as they get out of the car heading for the hotel.

 _Tell him...just tell him._

He holds the door open for her and her eyes start to burn with unshed tears that threaten to fall. She walks past him towards the elevators and hits the button; when it arrives they both climb in and press for the 10th floor.

 _Please someone get on this elevator, for the love of all things...dammit!_

She thinks as the doors shut, leaving just the two of them standing in elevator. She keeps her head forward but cuts her eyes over to him as he stands beside her. He opens his mouth to say something but shuts it back, she turns to him and opens hers but shuts it back.

He sighs "Han, I -" he starts but she launches herself at him, making him stagger back to rest his back on the elevator wall. She laces her fingers in the hair just about his collar as their lips connect. He hesitates before wrapping his arms around her waist and pulling her to closer to his chest. Their kiss deepens when he opens his mouth, letting her tongue in just as the elevator dings and the doors slide open.

She pulls back and looks at him "Oh god, I'm sorry..." she covers her mouth "I didn't mean to...I'm just sorry.." she whispers as she turns and and quickly exits the elevator busting into an almost full sprint to her door.

 _Smooth Hanna...real smooth._

He tries to move from his spot to catch her, but can't get his legs to work. "Han! Hanna! Wait..." he calls out as he finally walks off the elevator and turns toward their rooms just as she is shutting the door "Dammit." he sighs as he walks down the hall to their rooms

He stops in front of his but looks over at the door leading to her room. He walks over and knocks "Hanna..." he calls out and when she doesn't answer he knocks again "Hanna...please open the door."

He huffs "Fine...you win. But I am right next door, and I will see you tomorrow night...you can't avoid me forever." he calls out through the door before turning and walking back off towards his room. He stops in between the two and walks back up to her door "Look, don't be embarrassed about what just happened...it...I get it okay? Tonight was great...it has felt just like old times, kinda felt like we were us again and to say that somewhere in my mind I didn't want that happen would be a lie...so don't avoid me, please?"

He stands outside the door and waits but when she never opens it, he finally turns and walks back to his door, looking back one more time before he finally opens his door and walks in.

Inside her room, Hanna stands beside the door with tear stained cheeks, she jumps when she can hear his door shut across the hall. She throws her head back against the wall beside the door and lets out a deep breath. She wipes her cheeks as she turns to walk to the bedroom, throwing herself back onto the bed when she gets there.

 _Well...that should make things interestingly awkward for tomorrow..._


	7. Chapter 7

**So sorry for the delay readers! Had lots of questions coming in asking if I was still writing, and yes I am. Here's the newest update! Pretty lengthy full chapter! Let me know what you think and if you would like a preview of the next chapter. It's going to be BIG! :)**

* * *

The next day Hanna steps out of the shower and into the steamy bathroom. Wrapping a towel around herself she wipes the mirror down and stares at her reflection. After a long restless night of tossing and turning, the bags under her eyes were giving her away. She huffs and rolls her eyes as she begins her getting ready routine.

 _You kissed him and then spent all night stewing over it...it's basically your fault. Plus, you said the f word first...you should've just told him and gotten it over with.._

She flips her head over and starts to brush through her hair as knock on the door stops her. She stands upright and sits the brush down on the counter as another knock on the door echoes through the room. "I'm coming!" she calls as she hurries through the bedroom heading for the door.

When she reaches the door she swings it open and Caleb stands on the other side with his hand up fixing to knock again. "C-Caleb?" she notices his wide eyes at her appearance and she follows his eyes and looks down at herself. Her short towel covered just enough to a PG-13 rating.

 _Geez, if I can embarrass myself one more time…that would be just lovely._

She thinks as she pulls the towel tighter around herself "What….are you doing here?" she asks.

He reaches forward, grabbing her by the back of her head and slowly pulls her to him. She gasps as their lips meet and he sweeps his tongue inside her mouth. He pulls back and he runs his nose up hers, leaving her standing breathless with her eyes closed "There." he whispers. She opens her eyes to find him looking down at her "Now, we are even. You kissed me and now I kissed you so you don't have to avoid me anymore."

"Caleb, it's so much more complicated than that." she whispers as she focuses her eyes on the threading of his shirt "You have no idea how –"

He huffs and runs his fingers through his hair "Hanna, just tell me what I have to do to make this not awkward. Like you said last night I have spent the last eight years not being able to see you and talk to you. What happened, last night…it happened and I don't want you to be embarrassed about it and completely shut yourself off. I want to spend what little time we have left in this place being okay around each other. What can I do?"

 _Damn. He's right_.

She forces a smile "Nothing. You're right…you're absolutely right. Last night happened, and it's done...no reason to act all wigged out by it now...I mean, it's not like we haven't kissed before."

"Yeah. So, we're cool?"

"Always. Just if I start to make out with you again...don't let me. Tell me 'Go home Hanna, you're drunk'

"she laughs awkwardly as she pulls on the top of the towel.

 _STOP. RAMBLING. NOW_.

"Good." he mumbles as pulls the sleeves of his shirt down over his hands, a habit she knew he really only did when he was nervous or frustrated "Well, I gotta go. I told Toby I would come help him move some stuff before the reunion...but uh, I will see you later?"

"Yeah..I uh, I am coming to help Spence finish setting up so I will see you then." she says as she watches him flash his signature grin as he turns back to his hotel room door. He opens it and walks inside closing it behind him, never looking back.

 _What...just...happened?_

She thinks as she closes the door and leans back against it. She runs her fingers across her bottom lip that tingles. Sighing she pushes away from the door heading back for the bathroom to finish getting ready.

* * *

"You kissed her? OH! MY! GOD!" Kamie screams from the bathroom where she brushes her teeth.

"Will you hush! She's in the room next door."

"Yeah, and she already knows that you kissed her...so what's the problem...?"

 _Good point_.

"That was not exactly what I meant when I said you needed to go talk to her about last night...but I like where your head is at. Kissing her will definitely work too. So you didn't say anything to her?"

"Nope." he sighs as he lays his head against the wall opposite of the bathroom

"You just waltzed right across the hall and laid one on her and walked away? Was that your plan the whole time or did you just forget to speak...?"

He runs his hands through his hair "Yeah I had planned to talk but then she opened the door and there was a towel involved and I just forgot what to say and panicked...so I did exactly what I would've done any other time and tried to play it off when I realized what happened.."

Kamie props herself up in the doorway to the bathroom and looks at him "She believe it?"

He runs his hands through his hair "I hope so."

"Well, I am just going to say that telling her you love her probably would've worked better, but hey…if it works, it works. So, is tonight going to be awkward?"

He shoots her a look and then reaches into his pocket for his phone. Glancing at the time looks back up "Shit. I have to go help Toby….I'm late." He reaches for his keys on the desk and then turns back to her "I will be back in a couple hours to pick you up." She shakes her head yes as he opens the door and makes his way back into the hallway and to the elevators.

* * *

Hanna stands in front of the mirror and rubs the wrinkles out of the front of her romper. She had packed a bright red pantsuit jumper for the reunion, but was quickly rethinking it. The front had a deep V neckline and fit tight like a corset and paired it with a blazer and chunky nude heels.

"Hanna!" she sighs as she recognizes Emily's voice coming from the hallway "Hanna, let me in!"

She walks to the door and opens it up, stepping aside and lets Emily in. She looks her up and down, noticing her outfit "Wow. Now I knew those trouser dress pants would look good on you, but damn. You look pretty hot Emily Fields!" she calls out with a laugh.

Emily strikes a pose and they share a laugh "Thanks. I know this fabulous designer, she totally rocks it. But me? What about you? You sure will make everybody, Caleb included drool in that. You always look pretty in red."

 _Caleb…_

"Yeah, about that…him..." she says as she walks past Emily back into the bedroom to finish getting ready "Thanks for announcing yourself, I have been hiding out in here for the last few hours from Caleb."

Emily plops down on the edge of the bed "Hiding out? Why? What happened? Did you finally tell him?" she asks quickly and excitedly.

Hanna picks up the curling iron from the counter and starts to curl her hair "Not exactly…I decided on a whim that it would be much better to just make out with him instead…"

"What?!"

"Yeah…right? And then I spent all night tossing and turning thinking about it. Wake up this morning and the bags under my eyes have bags. I get out of the shower and guess who is knocking at my door…Caleb! And guess who answered it in a very small towel…me!" she says as she sits the curling iron back down on the counter and turns to look at Emily who sits on the bed with wide eyes.

"What did he say?"

Hanna walks into the room and sits down on the bed beside Emily "Well first, he shoved his tongue down my throat and then he told me that we were even and not to let tonight be awkward, like that is even an option at this point." She looks over Emily who stares straight ahead in what looks like shock.

"You two sure know what to-"

"Make things really awkward? Yeah. We do." She looks down at her hands knotted up in her lap then back at Emily "What am I going to do for tonight Em? People are going to see us together, they are going to ask questions….and if I wasn't already on edge about answering those questions, two make out sessions and one heart to heart in the car is just the cherry on top of this three ring circus."

"Well, now for the most important question…how did it feel?" Emily asks with a nudge on Hanna's shoulder.

Hanna can't help the smile that creeps over her face as she stands and walks across the room to stand in front of the mirror "Well, after the initial shock, it felt…god, Em it felt so...right. Almost like we were an us again…for a few seconds, then the sinking reality that we aren't hit and it got really weird.."

"Well, then you should tell him.." she says as she looks down at her phone in her hand "And I hate to bring this to a screeching hault but we have to get going. We have to help greet people."

"Yeah, I know." she sighs and looks down at her outfit again "You think this looks okay? For once in my life, I would rather blend in with the crowd instead of stand out."

"Hanna, you were never meant to blend in." she says with a laugh "But yes, the outfit is cute. You look hot." she says as she stands from her spot on the bed and walks over to Hanna, wrapping her arm around Hanna's shoulder "Look, I promise you that everything will go okay tonight. I will be there and I will not let anything happen to ruin it for you."

"Thanks Em." Hanna says as she wraps her up in a hug. She pulls back and looks at Emily "Hackett said that alcohol was allowed right? I don't have to sneak a flask in my cleavage like it's junior year again, right?" Emily shakes her head yes "Okay, well first thing is first…don't let me drink too much and try to jump Caleb's bones. Deal?"

Emily laughs "Deal." She says as they turn to make their way out of the hotel room.

* * *

They all sit at a table right inside the double doors of their schools auditorium. Hanna sits in between Emily and Spencer, writing out name tags for the visitors and giving people their seating arrangements.

She is looking down when she hears a voice that makes her cringe "Well well well Hanna Marin, we meet again." Noel says as he walks up to the table

She looks up "Hi Noel. Sorry about the other night, I was out of line." She says as she looks down the chart and finds his name, marking him off "Just you tonight?"

"Yep. Just me. Where's your friend? Maybe she can be my date.." he says as he offers up his signature cocky smile.

"She's here…with Caleb, so she's not available. Sorry." she says as she clears her throat grabbing Emily's attention beside her.

"Oh, well if she is here with Caleb that must mean that you are available how about we-"

"Noel, you're sitting at table 18. Each table has a number right in the center and there will be a place card with your name at your seat. Have fun." Emily chimes in offering up her most genuine smile as she hands him his packet.

Noel laughs as he picks up his welcome packet and turns back to Hanna "I will see you in there. Save me a dance?" he says with a wink.

Hanna huffs as he walks off "Ugh. Whoever put the idea in his head that he is god's gift to women should really be ashamed of themselves." She says as she shivers as if disgusted.

"Noel really isn't that bad…a little cocky, but he's a nice guy." Aria chimes in from down the table, making everybody laugh and look at her "What?"

"Yeah, I don't think so. His ego will smother us all in that room." Hanna says with a roll of her eyes.

Hanna examines the list in front of her until she can feel the hair on the back of her neck stand up. She glances up just as he opens the door to the school, holding it open for Kamie to walk in ahead of him. She tries, but she cannot take her eyes off of them as they walk in, carrying on what looks like a deep conversation. He glances up and their eyes lock and she sucks in a deep breath as she glances back down on at the paper in front of her.

"Hey uh Caleb." Emily says as she looks up and then over at Hanna before turning back to them "Hi again Kamie!" she says as Kamie throws up her hand in an awkward wave.

"Hey Em, Han." He says to them making Hanna look up at them and offer a forced smile before she looks back down at the list pretending to look for something.

Emily glances over at her and then back to Caleb "You two will be with us, table 11. Number is in the center of the table, place card at your seat. I will get you a name tag, Kamie" she says as she shuffles through the papers in front of her looks for the name tags.

Hanna notices the stack of name tags that sit in front of her before she finally sighs and picks up her marker "I got you, right down here." She says "K-A-M-I, right?" she asks as she picks up her marker to start writing on the tag.

"K-A-M-I-E." she corrects as she watches Hanna write her name down.

Pulling the name tag sticker off the paper she holds it up for her "Here you go, Kamie. You're drink voucher will be in with Caleb's welcome packet." She says as she offers up a smile.

Kamie takes the sticker from her and places it on her chest "Thanks. Hey, about yesterday.."

"You ready?" Caleb asks as he walks up to them, pulling her attention away from Hanna. He looks down at Hanna "Hey Han."

"Hi." She whispers as her eyes linger on him a little too long that she starts to recognize the familiar feeling of butterflies deep in her belly. She looks back down and straightens the stack of papers in front of her "So you guys are sitting with us, I will see you both in there?"

"Sure thing." he says as Kamie opens her mouth to say something else as he drags her into the auditorium.

"Hey, I was trying to talk to her…I wanted to apologize for the last night. I don't want her thinking that I am a big whore." she squeals as she follows behind him as they make their way to the table.

"She doesn't. I told her that we weren't together, together." he says as they weave their way through the tables scattered throughout the room. The finally stop when they reach the right one and he pulls out their chairs and he sits down "I just…did you see her? See that look? Could you feel the tension? I really think that I made things worse this morning."

"Yeah, I saw her, she's gorgeous.. And the look…but the look isn't anything new. You look at her like she's the only one in the room every time you look at her. Big deal." she says as she picks up his welcome packet in search of her drink voucher.

"No, did you see the way she looked at me? It's almost like-"

"Almost like you were the only one in the room? Yeah, saw that one too…I thought they said there was a drink voucher in here?" she says as she dumps the whole envelope onto the table and starts to go through the contents "Ah, here it is!" she says as she picks it up and flashes him a smile "Want anything?"

"Ah, no I'm good." he mumbles, distractedly.

Kamie gets up from the table and makes her way over to the makeshift bar on the other side of the room. Caleb sits by himself and looks around the room until he spots her walking into the doorway from the hallway. He sits up straight in his chair and tries to compose himself. He watches her as she walks in and looks around too, until her eyes land on him. She stops and looks at him, after a minute she smiles and continues walking in his direction.

 _God, she's beautiful..._

When she reaches the table she walks to her seat, conveniently beside him and pulls out her chair. They sit in silence for a second before she finally turns to him "Spence did good on this place, didn't she?" she asks as she looks around the room.

"Yeah…she uh…she did." He says as he clears his throat and looks back at her "Hanna, I'm sorry about this morning…I shouldn't have-"

"Well well, look who it is!" they hear from behind them. They both turn to look at Lucas who stands a few feet away "Hanna and Caleb…Been a long time since I saw you two together."

"Lucas! Hi!" Hanna says as she stands to hug him, thankful for his distraction. Pulling back she looks him up and down "How have you been? I hear you're big in the computer biz these days."

"I'm great actually, just moved back from Seattle. Sold my company there, now just looking for my next venture - game apps. How have you been? Fashion from what I hear?"

"Yep. I uh…I launched my line a few years ago…it's doing pretty well. I am still in New York, so if you ever come up you should get with me. We can do dinner or something."

"Definitely. Definitely." He turns attention to Caleb who stands beside Hanna. Sticking his hand out he says

"Caleb. How have you been man?"

Caleb shakes his hand "Been doing good Lucas. It's been a long time. I guess the last time I saw you was when you came to visit us in New York." he says as he glances over at Hanna who shakes her head and then back to Lucas.

"I know…it's been just a couple. You still doing the computer thing?"

"Yeah, firewalls now mostly."

"Great. Hey, you two married yet? Kids? I saw where you had gotten engaged, but I never saw a marriage announcement, you a big enough celebrity now that has to avoid the paps?" he asks, then chuckles

They both turn and look at each other and then back at Lucas "Caleb and I actually broke up a quite few years ago…and my fiancé was Jordan - we ended our engagement a while ago." She says as she clasps her hands in front of her. She can see out of the corner of her eye as Caleb crosses his arms over his chest and does a shift of his feet.

"Oh….I um…I'm sorry. I didn't realize…" he stumbles as he points between them "I saw that your listed your name as Marin in the program so I didn't know if you went by that for the business or…I uh…I better go." He says as he quickly walks off leaving both of them standing there in silence.

After he is finally gone, she sighs and turns back to Caleb "Well...we knew it would happen…"

"Yeah I know. But hey, at least it was just Lucas….he is too nice to ask any serious questions." he replies before sitting back down at the table as Hanna follows suit and sits down beside him "Hanna, look about this morning…I actually came over to talk to you about something important and I got distracted...but I um, I really need to tell you-" he starts

Hanna can see Kamie out of the corner of her eye walking towards the bathrooms "Hey, it's no problem. I have got the pee, will you excuse me?" she says as she hops up and quickly makes her way to the bathrooms

"I love you…" he mumbles as he watches her walk off. He sits back in his seat and runs his hands over his face and through his hair in frustration. He watches until she rounds the corner out of sight before he picks up his drink voucher and heads to get a drink.

Hanna pushes open the bathroom door and walks into the shockingly empty bathroom; she waits near the sinks for Kamie to come out. When she hears a toilet flush she straightens herself and when the stall door swings open, she offers her a smile "Hey Kamie."

She looks at Hanna like she has lost her mind "Hi..?" she says as she crosses the bathroom and heads for the sink near Hanna.

"Look, I just wanted to talk to you about yesterday. I am sorry for acting like a total bitch towards you about Noel. I didn't know that you and Caleb weren't a couple until afterward, and I just wanted to say I am sorry for stepping in. I know that you know our history and he really…he still means a lot to me so I thought I was looking out for his best interest when I was actually putting my foot in my mouth." She says as she watches Kamie in the mirror as she washes her hands "That is all I really had to say so I am sorry." she says again as she turns to walk out the door, stopping just short to turn back to her "Oh and by the way, Noel asked about you tonight…if you're still interested." she says with a smile and makes her way back to the door.

"Hanna?" Kamie calls out and makes her stop and turn back to look at her "I've known Caleb for a while and I know that I don't know him as well as you do, because I don't think that there is anyone that could know him better than you...but I know him pretty well. I just wanted you to know that he didn't bring me here to spite you, he just didn't want people to ask him a bunch of questions about what happened, because he's still not ready to talk about it." she says as she walks closer to Hanna, throwing her paper towel in the trash near the door. "You really care about him, and I can respect that, so there are no hard feelings here. Woman to woman, I would probably do the same thing you did if I saw the girlfriend of the man I loved, macking on someone else." Hanna opens her mouth to reply but she is cut off "You should tell him…"

Kamie smiles at Hanna and shakes her head up and down answering her unasked question, making Hanna smile in return. She pushes the door open and makes her way back into the auditorium. She stops and looks across the room at their table, all her friends have now gathered around the table chatting with Caleb. He laughs at something that is said, then looks up and their eyes lock for a few brief moments. Kamie walks up beside her and grabs her attention. She gives Hanna a look and a nod before Hanna finally gets her feet to move again, making her way back to the table.

* * *

As the reunion ceremony starts, Spencer walks up onto the stage to welcome everybody, giving a small speech before handing the spotlight over to Lucas who walks up onto the stage to the podium and the lights shine on him "Hey guys, all of you should know me, but if you don't I am Lucas Gottesman." He starts awkwardly "Ten years ago before we all graduated high school the yearbook staff and I sat down with everybody and asked a couple questions. First was your name and any clubs or accolades accomplished in high school. Second, was what your plans were after graduation, and lastly was where you saw yourself when we all came back for this reunion. Now, we recorded everybody's answers and put together a small slideshow with some pictures from high school as well as some other pictures we could find after high school to play here tonight so I hope you all enjoy!" he says as she walks off the stage to a round of applause.

Hanna shoots Spencer a questioning look and she shrugs her shoulders and leans forward to whisper in her ear "I have no idea. This was yearbook, the one club I wasn't in."

"Any idea what we could have said?" Hanna whispers back and Spencer shrugs her shoulders again "This could end up being really embarrassing, given our history and all..."

Spencer mouths _'No kidding_ ' back to her as the lights dim as the slideshow starts to play starting with Spencer. Pictures from various school functions and sporting events play across the screen as her voice booms through the speakers and she begins to ramble off all of her high school accomplishments, stating that she was going to Georgetown after graduation and she hoped to pursue a career in politics. The slideshow ends on a picture of her family after her mom was elected state senator and everybody claps and Spencer stands from her seat for recognition.

Hanna sits watching the slideshow for a few minutes, lost in thoughts of what she could've possibly said just as Caleb leans back in his chair "Hey, after this is over you think that we can grab a drink at the Radley bar? I really need to talk to you about something." he whispers.

"What about Kamie?" she whispers back, looking past him at the back of her head as she sits on the other side of him.

"She's actually meeting up with Noel afterwards…"

"Oh okay, yeah we can."

She glances back up at the slideshow just in time to see her face pop up on the screen. A couple pictures flash across the screen before her voice finally comes through the speakers. "Hanna Marin, homecoming queen…even though my picture was taken down…and I helped out in yearbook, once. That counts right?" she watches as more pictures flash across the screen, one being her homecoming queen picture.

"After high school Caleb and I are going to New York and I plan to pursue a career in fashion." Hanna sits up awkwardly in her chair at the mention of his name, as he glances back at her and smiles. More pictures come up, one of all the girls together at a lunch table, and one of her from the fashion show.

"In 10 years I see myself, hopefully still in fashion, maybe even personal stylist to someone like…I don't know, Katy Perry…possibly still in New York, but who knows?" the audio stops as pictures from the newspaper article announcing the launch of her line come across the screen "And I see myself at least married by then, to Caleb of course with possibility some little Rivers' babies running around." the video ends with her laughter as a pictures of them together flutter across the screen, ending on one of them dancing at the Ice Ball.

She can feel all her hair standing on end as she glances up at him nervously and then back at Spencer who claps and motions for her to stand up. She looks back at him as he sits watching her closely before she finally stands up on shaky knees while everybody claps. She can feel her cheeks start to turn as red as her outfit, as she looks back down at Caleb who looks straight ahead.

She sits back down and looks over at the rest of the girls one by one, who all look at her wide eyed then back to Caleb. When she can no longer take the heat of his stare on her back, she looks over her shoulder at him and he sits with his eyes on her. She watches as he opens his mouth to speak, then closes it before opening it again "Hanna...I.." he whispers then stops as if to gather his thoughts.

Tears fill her eyes as embarrassment overtakes her body she whispers "I'm so sorry. Excuse me." as she hops up from her seat and quietly makes her way out of the room, careful not to make a scene.

Everybody sits in silence and looks at each other and then back at Caleb who sits with his eyes focused on the table in front of him. When he finally looks up, he notices all the eyes are on him.

"Go talk to her." Aria leans in and whispers in his direction

"Yeah, she needs to talk to you now...not any of us." Ali chimes in.

He looks back over his shoulder at Kamie who shakes her head. He stands from his chair and starts to walk out when Emily stops him "Hey Caleb." she calls out and he turns back to face her "You love her...we all know you do, so just tell her..."

 _Hanna, I love you.. I never stopped loving you...see it's not that hard.._

He thinks as he heads out of the auditorium in search of her. He stops by the bathroom and hangs outside the door for a moment before finally pushing his way in "Hanna? Are you in here?" He calls out receiving silence back "Hanna, please can we talk?" He calls out again. When he doesn't receive an answer he turns to walk out of the restroom, heading for the hallways of the school hoping to see her roaming one.

* * *

 **Okay guys, big talk in the next chapter coming up next! Stay tuned! :)**


	8. Chapter 8

**Okay so, I know I just updated with Chapter 7 but I just couldn't wait on this chapter guys! I am pretty excited about it, and this is by far my favorite one yet! Let me know what you think! :)**

* * *

Hanna walks out of the auditorium and as rounds the corner the leans her back against the wall to try and catch her breath. She lets the tears that have collected in her eyes fall down her cheeks. "Did that really just happen?" she whispers to herself as she wipes them from her face "Of course it did, you loved him...you thought you were going to spend the rest of your life with him...then you went and fucked it up over a damn job. Good job Hanna!" she scolds. She stops when she hears the door open into the hallway from the auditorium. She quietly turns down the hallway to stay out of sight.

As she makes her way through the dimly lit school she ventures down the empty hall passing the spot where she stood so many years before. Where she suddenly became the new 'it' girl. At the time it was one of the best moments of her life, people finally noticed her like she wanted them too. Now looking back on it she laughs at the thought because the first thing she can think of is it was also the same spot she would stand in just a few short years later and watch him at the other end of the hall. A post breakup eye lock made her stop in this same spot, unable to move because he looked at her a way that someone who truly longed to be with someone would. A look that took her breath away because she felt the same way. They shared a moment that day that will forever be burned into her brain. They loved each other, and they both knew it - unstoppable forces just kept them apart. They shared a similar look just a few moments ago, and it made all her hair stand on end, and she knew she had to get out of that room, before the words fell out of her mouth in front of everyone.

She walks on to her locker, putting in the combination and silently hopes that it was still the same. Lifting the metal handle but, the latch unhooks and she can help the giggle that escapes her mouth. Shutting it back and runs her fingers down the brown metal of the front as their words come to her mind as a smile creeps over her face.

 _'I thought Rosewood girls like you knew how to say please and thank you'_

 _'Well, please get your sweaty body off of my locker. Thank you'_ _  
_

A noise down the hall pulls her from her memory as she looks back down the she walks down to the source of the noise, standing where the two halls connect she looks around to find nobody. As she turns back around a classroom door catches her eye. Walking over she peeks in through the glass in the door before grabbing the handle and opening it. As she enters she notices that everything is exactly who she remembered it to be - 3 rows of desks, 6 desk in a row. She smiles as she walks in between the first and middle rows, finding her desk. She runs her fingers over to smooth, cold top where she once sat. A tinge of sadness pulls at her heart as she stands there, watching the memories play out in her head.

 _'Where you going princess?'_

 _'The princess needs a pee.'_

A knock at the door makes her turn her head to look over her shoulder and there he stands. Their eyes lock, and the look is there/ She cannot put her finger on it, but something about it felt as if he came here so that she could say the words that almost felt so natural to say to him, but right now were so hard to get out They stand in silence, just staring; it makes her hold her breathe involuntarily.

"Hey." He finally sighs

"Hey." she breathes out

"What are you doing back here? Shouldn't you be out there mingling or something?" He asks with a chuckle, trying to break the tension between them.

She looks back down at the desk where her fingers linger "I uh...I just needed a minute. So many emotions all at once...I just needed to take a step back."

"This about the video? Because -"

She chuckles "No. It's not about the video...I should've expected that I said something like that..I didn't but I should have." she says as she focuses her line of sight up at him for a split second before she moves to sit down on the back of the desk .

"You know, we used to think that the years we spent here were the worst years of our lives...looking back on it now, boy were we wrong. I mean, I could've lived my whole life without A" She says with a roll of her eyes. She clasps her hands in front of her and looks around the room "But coming back and just looking around...everywhere I look now, there is a memory here that I never want to let go of...something that stands out like a moment in time..."

He makes his way over to the desk beside her and sits like she is. In the back of her mind she wonders if he even knows that they sat in this same spot years ago.

"I um I know what you mean. I've been a lot of places and seen a lot of things...but nothing brings back memories like this place...this town."

"Exactly. Ever since I've been gone, nothing feels the same as it does here. I mean sure, I like New York as much as the next girl...but there is just something about Rosewood that will always be where my heart wants to be...it may be the memories...but nothing stands out in my life these days like the memories here. I've avoided this place the best I could for all these years because it is filled with memories. Everywhere I look it's those four girls out there, and all the crazy insane things we've been through." she pauses for a moment and takes a deep breath before she says it "I haven't avoided it because of that...I've avoided it because it's you...and it's me...everywhere I look, it's us and I couldn't face it."

She looks over and and watches as he stares down at his hands. He sighs but doesn't say anything as he looks back over to her. and as their eyes lock, she can feel her whole body tingle. She quickly breaks their connection and stares down at her hands, working to keep her breathing under control.

She looks back around the room before she brings herself to say it, knowing her heart will break if he doesn't remember like she does "This is where it all started you know...this room-"

"These desks." he says with a chuckle as he looks around too "You and me, yeah. I know..hell of course I know. That day changed my life."

A laugh escapes her mouth "Yeah, it was a good day." before she falls silent again and they sit like that for a long time before she finally sighs.

He glances over at her, noticing the tears that have started to cloud her eyes. He reaches out and touches her forearm that rests on her knees "Hey, what's wrong?" he asks. His words make the tears fall from her eyes and she slams them shut "Hanna...come on...talk to me."

He watches her but she never speaks. She wipes her eyes and takes a few deep breathes before she turns to him.

"I lied to you yesterday...when I said that we were friends..that we could be friends" She stands from the desk and walks up to the front of the room, keeping her back to him "As soon as I said it, I knew I was lying. We can't be friends...I just..." she turns back to him but never looks up as she leans back on the desk behind her "I can't be friends with you...and I know I said that I could...but I can't..."

"Slow down..." he says from his spot across the room "Is this still about what happened yesterday? Because -"

"Maybe...yeah you know what, it is...I just-." tears spring back up in her eyes and she takes a deep breath to try and keep them from falling "What I should've said was I don't know how Caleb. I don't know how...to be a part of your past..."

"These last eight years without you, they have sucked, trust me but I laid in bed last night after we left Spences' and I thought about our conversation last night and how I felt when I saw you here, with Kamie...and our kiss in that elevator...and then again this morning. As much as it breaks my heart to do it, I have to end a friendship with you before ever starting one because I know that this can only end badly. You can either hear what I have to say and leave or I can keep it to myself...but I know that if I do that...one day you will eventually meet someone else, someone you want to spend the rest of your life with, and if we are friends then I would come and sit in the very back of the church like any good friend would and watch you marry someone else, when I know that there will never be anyone else for me but you...and it would absolutely destroy me, because I love you." she says with a shrug , finally looking up at him as the tears silently roll down her cheeks.

"Han..." he says as he stands from the desk and takes one step toward her

She quickly shakes her head and wipes the tears from her cheeks "And again I know it's selfish of me..I should want to be a part of your life...I should just say that being in your life in any form is better than not ever seeing you or speaking to you again...but I cannot help it. For me, you will always be the one that has had my heart since I was 17 years old...and you will always be the one that got away...I love you too much to JUST be a bystander in your life." she says as another tear runs down her cheek and she wipes it away with her finger tips

He stands watching her cry form his spot in the middle of the row of desks. He tries to move his feet, but her words have cemented them to the floor. He opens his mouth but no words come out.

She wraps her arms in front of her, crossing them over her chest "Everything said in that video is true...I always thought it would be you and me, forever...and I am so sorry for ruining us...I am. I think about it every damn day. If I could go back to that night and change it I would, because I am so tired of living like this. Nothing that I have in my life now, is worth losing you over. The last three days have been spent crying, drinking a lot of alcohol, and having everyone tell me that I should just tell you how I feel...even people I don't even know. And I've wanted to every time I talk to you...just to yell that I am still so totally in love with you...after all these years I am so in love with you, Caleb." she stops as a sob escapes her mouth "I guess I always will be because I've tried to move on with my life, I met Jordan and got engaged and he was such a great guy...but I couldn't put all of my heart in it because you have it. The biggest part of my heart is yours, and it has been since that day in this room. I ended my engagement for no other reason other than he wasn't what I wanted because he wasn't you..."

She looks up at him again and "So there it is...and if you don't feel the same way I understand, and I will learn to accept it...but I cannot just be friends with you." She takes a few steps forward heading towards him.

"You said last night you came back, what did you mean?" he finally whispers, instantly regretting it because she stops.

"The night I left the apartment...the night we were supposed to leave for Europe. I was stuck in traffic in some smelly cab on my way to some runway show that I did not even want to go to. I kept calling you and it would go to voicemail and I had this feeling in my gut that if I leave without telling you how sorry I was and how much I love you that it would be the thing to do us in. We had just been fighting so much and I didn't want to fight anymore...I wanted to leave with you to spend those two weeks just the two of us...getting us back to where we used to be. I had to get out of the cab, I ran back to the apartment in the middle of that storm...and when I got there you were already gone. I called your phone and it lit up on the table..." she trails off as they stand staring at each other.

"Han, I uh -"

"There you are!" Mona calls cheerfully from the door as she makes her way in the room "You said you would help me hand these out and then you were gone. Is everything okay?" she asks as she looks at Caleb who stands facing her.

Hanna quickly wipes her face and turns around to Mona "Ah, yeah I just went to the bathroom and then started being nosey and looking around then bumped into Caleb. Did you realize that they painted the hallway?" she asks as she points out the door.

Mona quickly turns her head to look in the direction that Hanna is pointing it before turning back around "So it seems. Well, they should be wrapping back up out here in just a few minutes, will you be done snooping by then and can help me, or do I need to find another assistant?" she asks as she holds the papers back up in the air.

"Uh, yeah. I will be right there." she sighs

"Fab!" Mona cheers from the door with an excited shake of her shoulders as she turns to walk back out of the room on her way back to the auditorium.

Hanna stands with her back to him trying to collect herself before she turns to face him again. He watches her closely before taking a step closer to her. He reaches out and touches her arm, making her jump "Hanna.." he whispers close enough to her now that his breath on her skin makes her shiver.

She turns around to face him, her eyes filed with tears "I don't blame you for leaving Caleb. I probably would've left me too, I just- I just wish you would've came back when you got back from Europe so that I could have made it right. My whole world shattered into a thousand tiny pieces that day, and I've spent the last eight years just wondering what would have happened to us, and hoping that somewhere somehow you missed me as much as I missed you...and you would come back for me, but you never did." she whispers, never bringing her eyes up to meet his.

He reaches his hand out to touch her shoulder just as she reaches up to wipe the escaped tears from her cheeks. Not able to stop himself, he pulls her into his chest just as her dam breaks and she begins to sob into her hands. He rubs her back and lets her words sink in as she continues to talk, her face still buried in the center of his chest. "And I know that no matter what I will always love you. I knew it in high school, I knew it that last night in New York, and I know it standing right here, right now. I love you and nothing will ever change that. " she sobs as he bends down and kisses the top of her head where his chin rests.

She pulls back and wipes her eyes again "Gah, I just keep embarrassing myself, I am sorry...I'm just- I needed to tell you all of that, even if it doesn't change anything. I can't keep pretending that I don't love you...because it's the only for sure I know in my life..it's the only thing I know will never change.." she looks up at him.

They stand staring at each other for what seems like hours. When he never speaks, she finally sighs "I better get out here and help her before she blows a gasket." as she turns to walk towards the door.

When she reaches for the door handle, he takes a step forward "Hanna, wait. Please let me talk for two seconds.." he calls out and makes her stop before she crosses the threshold of the classroom walking back into the hallway. He lets out a deep breath he had been holding when she stops and then the words fall right out of his mouth "I was there...at your show that night."

She stops and turns around "W-What do you mean?"

"I was there, at your show..the night you launched your line. I was there." he says again, this time thought it's as if his words echo off the walls and vibrate through her body.


	9. Chapter 9

**REALLY short chapter here but it has a lot of content and I felt like it was too important of a Haleb moment to put anything else with it. Let me know what you think. :)**

* * *

When she reaches for the door handle, he takes a step forward "Hanna, wait. Please let me talk for two seconds..." he calls out and makes her stop before she crosses the threshold of the classroom walking back into the hallway. He lets out a deep breath he had been holding when she stops and then the words fall right out of his mouth "I was there...at your show that night."

She stops and turns around "W-What do you mean?"

"I was there, at your show...the night you launched your line. I was there." he says again and he is answered by dead silence. She stands still, her eyes filled with unshed tears as she looks from him to the floor.

He takes a deep breath before continuing "I had thought about you fifteen thousand times before I saw that article, every single day to be exact. You crossed my mind every single day that we were apart. I missed you so much Hanna…so much. I missed your smile, your laugh, I missed our talks. Hell, I missed you so much, the things that used to drive me to the brink of insanity, I found myself missing. I had just accepted that you always would always cross my mind, and that is when I saw the article in the paper. I remember I was staying at The Radley, I had come down for the weekend to visit Toby and help with his house. I saw it while I was eating breakfast and I spent damn near that entire weekend here thinking about it. Thinking about going and trying to talk myself into it, what I would do or say when I saw you again and if I could handle leaving you again if you didn't want anything to do with me." He stops to watch her closely as she stands her eyes fixed on the floor.

"When I got back to Philly I decided knowing was better than not knowing, and bought a ticket to the show. You always had this fire in your eyes about your career and to see that dream come true for you, I knew that no matter what had happened between us, I wanted to be there. I didn't know if you would even want to see me or what I would say other than how sorry I was and..." he shakes his head and takes a slow step forward.

"I came and hung out in the very back of the crowd, I didn't know where we stood and if you would feel about me being there so it felt like the safest bet. I remember what it felt like to see you for the first time in years. I looked up when you walked out onto that runway; it was almost like it hurt to breathe because you looked absolutely beautiful, just like I knew that you would. You wore your hair up, and the dress you were wearing was yellow and black...with some kind of print on it…you know I know nothing about fashion. You were right, in that moment I was so damn proud of you Han."

He stops and swallows to slow his heartbeat down "It was also in that moment that I realized all the words I wanted to say to you. I wanted to tell you how sorry I was for leaving and how much I missed you. How I thought about you every day. I was ready to beg you to let me come back with my tail tucked between my legs. That I loved you so much and all the days spent apart were the most insignificant, depressing days of my life. I wanted you to know that I never wanted to spend another day without you..."

She crosses her arms over her chest as she looks up at him "Why didn't you? Why didn't you come find me? Say something?"

"I had this grand idea that I would tell you whatever words I came up with after you got done in case you didn't want to see me, I didn't want to ruin the best night of your life. So I watched you from the back of that banquet hall, you waved at the crowd and then gave a small speech. When they gave you a standing ovation, it honestly felt like the best night of my life, watching you shine…watching you get what you had always wanted. I was so proud, I was so happy for you…and then he walked up to the end of that runway." he brings his hands to his face and rubs his eyebrows "You uh, you bent down and picked up the bouquet of roses he had held out for you which were red and you hate red roses...I know this, because I know you, and that is why I stopped and bought you white ones before the show..." he stops as she chuckles at his admission.

He takes another small step forward "Then you kissed him and I saw your ring shine in the lights. That moment of clarity turned into a disaster because I was too late, so I threw the roses in the nearest trash can and quietly made my way back to Philadelphia. I can't tell you how many times I turned my car around though. I wanted to tell you, but I knew I had no right to ruin that for you again. I did that with Travis, and I didn't want to do it again. So I know what you meant when you said that it would destroy you having to watch me move on, because I have been there... All the air was sucked out of my lungs in that moment Hanna, and it was like I was in a nightmare I couldn't get myself out of watching you with someone else. "

"Caleb?" she says, trying to grab his attention but only manages to get out a whisper.

"To answer your question, I didn't come back for you before then, because I didn't know that you would want me to come back...but that doesn't mean that I didn't want to...because I did. I thought about it every single day. It just took me a long time to finally man up and do it."

"Caleb!" she raises her voice and he finally stops and looks at her "That night...you should've-" she whispers as she takes a step toward him

"Said something? You're right, I should have. At the time I was so pissed at myself for leaving for Europe. I was pissed because I left you, and I was pissed that I never came back for you. I was pissed, but I knew that I had no right to be upset that you were moving on with your life. You deserved happiness and somewhere in the back of my mind, buried behind all the regret and all the shit I was feeling, I was happy for you...as happy as I could be at least...but I can't tell you how jealous I was of him...because, I wanted it to be me." he said as he follows suit and takes a step in her direction.

"Caleb, I ended my engagement that night." she blurts out, stopping his rant as he looks at her questioningly.

"I didn't know why at the time, I mean I did know why I ended it, but I didn't know why I choose the biggest night of my life to make a decision like that…maybe somewhere in my mind, I could feel you there, I don't know. I just needed you so much over the last few years, but in that moment it was almost overwhelming how much." she says as she takes another step forward to him until she stands right in front of him, in the middle of the rows of desks

"I look back on it and I know that walking out on us is one the biggest mistakes I will ever make in my life...because we were never supposed to end up like this, it was always supposed to be you and me against the world; you know it, and I know it. I also know that - standing here right now, I know that letting you walk out of this room or leaving this place and leaving you again without telling you that I love you will be the biggest mistake I could ever make. There will never be any one else that will make me feel the way you do, and there will never be anyone else that I can love like I love you...because you're it for me Hanna." he says as he reaches out and cups her face.

She leans into his touch as a tear rolls down her cheek, stopping at where his thumb rests. He wipes the tear away just as he leans in closer, but hesitates when he gets closer to her, looking from her lips to her eyes. Just as their foreheads touch he sighs "Hanna, I love you so much, I just-"

She cuts him off when she leans up and puts her lips on his, wrapping her arms around his neck she sighs into the kiss. He wraps his arms around her waist and pulls her closer to his chest to deepen it, swiping his tongue inside. When they pull away, he lays his forehead against hers and she can hear his quick, jagged breaths. She swallows hard then whispers "Wow…" then chuckles, never opening her eyes "I mean, I know we just kissed yesterday and all…and then again this morning but I don't necessarily think those count because well, neither of us knew then what we know now but that…that was..."

"Hanna?" he whispers, his breath hot against her cheek makes her look up at him "I love you, but I haven't done this in a really long time, so please just shut up and kiss me." he whispers again and then their lips are together again.


	10. Chapter 10

**HI! Sorry for the LONG hiatus. I had planned on getting this update up a while ago so sorry for the long delay. I received all your reviews asking about an update and hope that everybody is still reading...I am glad you guys are liking this story. Let me know what you think of the newest chapter! :)**

* * *

A noise in the distance wakes Hanna making her open her eyes slightly, the light beaming in the windows makes her squint them back almost shut. Looking around she notes that she is in the bedroom of her suite at The Radley, wearing Caleb's shirt from last night and she's hot...too hot.

Movement on the other side of the bed makes her glance over her shoulder as his arm wraps around her waist, pulling her close to his chest. She cannot help the smile that spreads over her face as he cuddles up next to her, putting his head in the curve of her neck. She runs her hand down his arm, lacing her fingers through his as images from their reunion run through her mind.

After their classroom confessions and a lengthy hot and heavy make out session they tore out of the school like two teenagers sneaking away from classes to head to the kissing rock. Sneaking out of the classroom, they closed the door quietly behind them or at least trying to until Hanna burst into a fit of giggles and only stopped laughing when Caleb pressed his lips to hers.

"Come on." he whispered as he pulled back and held his hand out to her.

She looked down and back up to him biting her lip to stifle her smile away as she took his hand and he led her down the hallway. She couldn't believe how natural the whole thing felt, and quickly. Just an hour ago she was only thinking about telling him how much he still meant to her and now all of this felt normal, kissing and holding his hand; almost like they were teenagers again...like they were never spent years apart.

They made their way through the maze of the hallways, ducking away from the crowd lingering in the auditorium on their way to the double doors in the front of the school. Hesitating for only a moment, Hanna looked over her shoulder towards the door leading to the crowd gathered inside. When she turned back to face him, he stood with one hand on the door, the other holding hers with a questioning look on his face. She shook her head yes and smiled as he leaned back down to kiss her as he pushed the doors open and led them out into the night air.

"Hey, this is our high school reunion; can we just leave like this, without saying goodbye to everybody?" Hanna asked and laughed her voice barely over a whisper. He pulled her out the double doors and onto the stairs in front of the school. "Where are we even gonna go?" she asked again before he started down the steps.

He stepped down onto the second step and turned back to look at her "Yeah, you know I hadn't really thought that through too much. We can go back inside if you want, or back to the hotel..?" he said making Hanna raised her eyebrows at him with a questioning look that said oh really?

He laughed "No, Hanna Marin that is not where I am going with this. Although...man, would it be nice." he said with a smile, which made her mouth fall open and playfully smack his chest in mock disgust.

"I'm kidding." he said reassuringly as he reached down and picked up her other hand, breaking their eye contact for only a second as he rubbed his thumb over her knuckles

"We can talk or have dinner or a drink at the bar, I really don't care what we do or where we go...I've just..." he sighed "I've thought about moments like these for a long time, so as long as we are together...uninterrupted I don't care what we do or where we go...to be honest."

"Me too." she whispered as she stood up on her tiptoes and kissed him, wrapping her arms around his neck and pulled him close. When they pulled back, they kept their eyes on each other. She noticed how his arms fit around her exactly how she remembered and how his eyes would still shine with love when he looked at her.

She put her face square in his chest and sighed "This is crazy...are we crazy?" she whispers to him as she pulled back to look up at him

"I uh...I don't know...if we're crazy but um" he said as he rubbed the small of her back. He can feel the shiver that runs through her body when he does, just like it used to. "Yeah, you know what...we may be...crazy...I guess but Hanna, I love you...and I thought I would drive myself crazy being here around you and not being able to say those words to you. So quite frankly, I don't really care if other people think we are crazy, because this makes sense to me."

After a long pause she quickly stands up and pecks his lips "You're right. You're so right…I love you." She whispers as she kisses him again.

"Let's go" she says as she grabs his hand and leads his down the stairs to the sidewalk.

"So where are we going?"

"I don't know. Wherever life takes us I guess…let's just see where we end up" she said wrapping her arms around his and lacing their fingers together as they started down the sidewalk.

They had spent the rest of the night roaming the streets of Rosewood with no set destination in sight. They talked about what happened in New York, about his trip to Europe and what had happened in their life since. She told him about her business and he told her about how he came to live in Philly.

They were completely wrapped up in one another and not really paying attention to their surroundings they didn't look up until they found themselves at the playground. Stopping outside the gate, Caleb looked down at her and she smiled up at him. He squeezed her hand as she pulled him inside. Making their way to the swings Hanna sat down in the first swing, and he followed suit and sat beside her.

Hanna reached down to pull her shoes off, tossed them back over onto the grass and placed her bare feet in the dirt underneath the swing. She shivered when the wind blew against her bare shoulders. She had forgot that even in the summer Rosewood got cold at night sometimes and it was one of those colder nights; she had just not realized how cold it was out while when she was snuggled next to Caleb.

Caleb reached up and starts to unbutton the front of his shirt "Here. Take this."

"I'm fine" she said as she watched him shrug it off his shoulders "Really Caleb, I will be fine."

"No, you're cold...so take this, I will be fine." he handed it over to her.

She looked down at the outstretched shirt and back up at him. He shook it at her again and she rolled her eyes "Fine." Inside she was smiling at his gesture, he had always been a gentleman.

She briefly noticed the H.M.R by Hanna Marin tag in the shirt as she put it on over her romper. She buttoned the front couple of buttons on the shirt and rolled the sleeves up so that they wouldn't come down over her hands. "Well, you have good taste." she said back to him as she grabs the collar of the shirt.

He laughed "Yeah, I uh...I buy a lot of your stuff. I figured it was the best way to support you, even if you didn't know." He glanced back over at her "I have to ask though...why H.M.R?"

Hanna stilled in her swing and glanced over at him. She had always been so embarrassed when people asked her this question, she never really had a good answer for it so gave him her generic answer "Hanna Marin Rosewood...a lot of the pieces in the line are inspired by here and the people here. You wouldn't believe the inspiration you can draw from people. Take Aria for example, the girl seriously has a closet that consist of colors that not even Crayola has in a box of crayons..." she stopped when she looked over at him "I'm sorry, it's habit to go into the whole spill."

He couldn't help but smile listening to her talk about her business he knew how much it meant to her "I'm really proud of you Han...I mean you did it, you did want you always wanted to do and you're damn good at it."

"Yeah, at what costs though?" she whispered and looked down at the ground at her bare feet.

They swayed in silence before Hanna finally cleared her throat "You know, this may sound crazy and slightly cheesy but to me, this has always sort of felt like our place. The few times I had come back home since that night in New York, I always came here. I've done a lot of reminiscing and thinking about us on these swings in the last 8 years." she kicks the dirt underneath the swing, feeling sort of embarrassed at her admission.

He watched her closely before finally leaning over and pressed his lips to her temple, making her glance up at him "I'm really am sorry for everything. If I had been such a douche in New York, this could have all been different."

Hanna straightens up the swing and wipes the hair out of her face "Yeah well, I wasn't exactly the perfect girlfriend either…but I am not the same person I was back then. Putting myself back in that situation, knowing what I know now…I would make a completely different decision."

"Yeah, me too." he says as he looked over at her. They lean in to kiss just as Caleb's phone beeped loudly from his pocket, making them both laugh. He reaches down and pulls his phone from his pocket. "Han, it's almost 3 A.M." he says to her when he notices the time "We should probably head back to the hotel."

"I guess we should." She said as she stood from her swing. He reached his hand out to her and she took it as he helped her out of the dirt and onto the ground. She reached down and grabbed her shoes off the ground, her feet hurt too much to put them back on so she held them in one hand and his hand in the other as they walked back to her car parked in the school parking lot.

When they got back to the school she reached into pocket and pulled the keys out, she handed them over to him. "You sure?" he asked excitedly.

"Yeah, I can tell you like the car." she said with a smile.

He leaned down and kissed her again before opening the passenger door for me. She smiled at him and rolled her eyes. She sat down in the seat and he shut the door behind her and ran over to the driver seat. He opened the door and plopped down. She watched him almost bounce up and down in the seat and it made her laugh at his excitement. He turned the key and the ignition roared to life. He looked over at her and wagged his eyebrows as he put the car in the drive raced out of the parking lot. She watched him from the passenger seat, drinking in the sight of him from there and smiled to herself. He glanced over at her and smiled; he reached his hand over and put it on her knee. She put her hand onto of his and laced their fingers together as she thought about how, when she bought this car she thought that maybe one day they would sit in it like they are now.

Pulling back up at the hotel he hopped out and rounded the car to her side, opening the door. She got out and and he closed the door behind her, she wrapped her arms around his as they walked back towards the building. She fought the sadness that had built in her chest knowing that they would soon say goodbye and go back to their rooms. They made their way across the lobby to the elevators and the wait was short before one arrived for them. They got on and he hit the button for the 10th floor. When the doors shut she hugged onto his arm tighter, laying her head on his shoulder. He watched her reflection in the mirrored doors of the elevator.

He glanced down to the top of her head "Han?" he breathed and she looked up at him. When their eyes locked, she launched herself at him.

He wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her closer to him to deepen their kiss. She ran her fingers through his hair just as the elevator dings on their floor. They don't pull away but instead blindly made their way out of the elevator and down the hallway to her suite. She reached down and pulled the key card out of her pocket, handing it over to him and they break their kiss for long enough for the door light to turn green and he pushed it open then they were at it again. Once inside she made work of undoing the buttons on the borrowed shirt, he pushed it off her shoulders and onto the hotel floor. He kissed down her neck to her collarbone where the shirt has been, making her gasp.

"Rivers." she whispered as he made his way back up her neck, stopping by her ear. He pulled back and looked at her before she continued almost breathless "Hanna Marin Rivers...H.M.R. that is what it meant...Rivers."

He rubbed his thumb over her cheekbone "I love you." he whispered, looking deep into her eyes. She was pretty positive in that moment that he could see right into her soul.

"I love you too. Now just shut up and kiss me." she whispered back to him as her lips where on his again.


	11. Chapter 11

**So, short chapter here guys - lots of dialogue and not much else but I wanted to go ahead and get an update for everyone waiting. Let me know what you think. Next one will be a big one. :)**

* * *

Caleb slides his hands from her hair and down her sides stopping under her butt. Hanna grips the back of his neck and they move together to lift her legs around his waist. Caleb walks blindly from their spot in the living room, winding through the kitchen area to the bedroom. They bump into the doorframe of the bedroom, making Hanna giggle into their kiss as he found the bed and laid her down on her back. He sprawls out on top of her, supporting his weight on his elbows as he wipes a hair out of her face.

"I've missed the sound of your giggle. I thought I would die not hearing it." he whispers next to her ear as he plants a kiss just below it. She stills underneath him, remembering her dream and it doesn't go unnoticed as he looks down at her "What's wrong? Is it too soon?" he asks genuinely concerned as he rolls off of her and onto the mattress, propping himself up on one arm.

"No, it's uh…it's not that…I just…" she whispers and then sighs throwing her arm over her face feeling embarrassed.

"What? Han?" he says lifting her arm and looks down at her "We don't have to do this if you don't want to…I mean I know it's been a long time but it's pretty great with us. At least I remember it that way…"

"It is- I remember it that way too I just…" she sighs again and rolls to face him "Okay look, I had…a dream the other night…about us in this same…situation and you."

"Wait, what? You had a dream? About us? Being…intimate?" he laughs and it makes her smile and roll back onto the mattress.

"This is so not funny…and I hate to kill the mood, it's just that you said that…it just…"

"Hey look, it happens…and you didn't kill the mood, we will just postpone it for a little while." he says as he leans down and kisses her, once then again before smiling "I'm starving…what about you?"

They order room service and lay on the couch snuggled up together until it arrives. Caleb picks the trays up off the cart and closes the door behind him. Walking back towards the couch he sits the trays down on the table.

Lifting the lids off the trays he says "You know, it's been a long time since I had French fries at 4 AM… I guess the last time was with you…in New York." He says with a chuckle as he sits back down beside her.

She smiles "Well I have, but I can say that I have never had them from room service though."

"Of course you have…" he chuckles and gives her a sideways look that makes her break out in chills and quickly glance back down at her plate.

They eat in silence for a while before he finally clears his throat "So, Rivers huh?" he asks just as she takes a bite.

"Yeah, I um…I'm sorry for like stealing it…or whatever I just…" she sits the fry she had in her hand back down on her plate "When we were in New York and I started sketching, I had it in my head that we would get married and when I hit it big I would be Hanna Rivers…so when we broke up I tried to come up with something different but I couldn't. Nothing fit" she said with a shrug "I just decided that if anyone asked it would be Rosewood…"

She watched him for a second, as he watched her. She finally broke their stare as she picked up her fry and took another bite.

"You didn't steal it, Han. It should've been yours a long time ago."

She watches him closely before she leans forward and plants a kiss on his lips. Pulling back she looks up at him for a moment then she kisses him again, this time moving into his lap. He wraps his arms around her waist and pulls her tighter to his chest. She reaches down for the bottom hem of his shirt, pulling it up his chest over his shoulders and then over his head tossing it onto the floor.

He fumbles with the zipper on the back of her jumpsuit, sliding it down slowly. He reaches for the straps but hesitates and gives her a look asking for permission. She nods her head yes and he slides them off of her shoulders and down her arms with his thumbs, leaving a trail of tingles as he did. She took a deep breath and kisses him again.

They made love there and it felt just like it always did with them, full of as much passion and tenderness as she remembered. She fell asleep stretched across his bare chest as he ran his fingertips up and down her back until he fell asleep too. Next thing she knew he was putting his on her and picking her up, heading for the bed.

The loud noise erupted in the silence again, this time Hanna recognized it as a knock on the door. She gently lifts Caleb's arm and slides out of bed, careful not to wake him. She picks up her phone to check the time, 10:15 AM. She sees that she has a text from Caroline so she quickly opens it as she heads for the door.

 **Boss – they loved it! I have BIG news. Call me when you can.**

She smiles and squeals as she reads the words just as another loud knock comes from the door. She quickly tosses her phone down on the table next to Caleb's t-shirt as she calls out towards the door "Coming!"

She swings the door open to find Kamie on the other side, mid-knock with a look of worry spread across her face "Oh hey Kamie, everything okay?"

"Uh yeah…I um was just wondering if Caleb was here…which I can tell that he is, or at least was" she says gesturing down at Hanna wearing his shirt. "He never came back to the room last night or called so I was worried."

Hanna blushed as she tugged on the front of the shirt "Yeah, he is here….he is asleep still. We were up late-"

Kamie throws her hand up at Hanna cutting her off "Please…let's not talk about what was going on in there."

"We were talking…" Hanna replied with a roll of her eyes but that couldn't stop the ridiculous grin that spread across her face.

"Yeah, okay. Well when he wakes up will you please remind him that we have to check out by 11 please?" she asks with a smile.

"Sure thing." Hanna replies as she watches Kamie crosses the hallway back to her room "Hey Kamie?" she calls out making the girl stop just before she opens the door and look back towards Hanna "You want to come inside and we can talk…get to know each other a little better? We can order breakfast, my treat?"

She nods and smiles "Yeah, I'd like that." She says as she makes her way back towards Hanna's door. She moves aside and lets Kamie in then shuts the door behind her.

"I uh, I'm gonna go change. Make yourself at home." she says to Kamie as she picks up the shirt up along with her cell phone and heads for the bedroom. As she passes by the counter she sees the menu sitting there "Oh here is the menu for room service. Order whatever you'd like. Just make sure there are mimosa's involved." They exchange a smile as Kamie takes the menu from her and Hanna walks back to the bedroom.

Opening the door quietly she tiptoes in and throws the shirt on the foot of the bed as she walks towards the bathroom. She wipes away the smudged eyeliner from under her eyes, brushes her teeth and pulls her hair back up. Caleb moves in the bed and it catches her attention. She stands in the doorway of the bathroom and watches his chest rise and fall with every breath he took. She noticed that he still sleeps just like he used to tossing and turning from one side of the bed to the other. She had missed a lot about him in all the years apart, and sleeping beside him was probably one of the things she missed the most.

Remembering Kamie in the living room, Hanna quickly grabbed some yoga capris from her drawer in the bedroom and tiptoed back out, glancing back one more time at him sleeping peacefully in the bed.

"So, what's it gonna be?" she called out to Kamie who now stood at the counter, menu still in hand.

"I uh…" Kamie looked back up at her "Look Hanna, I know you invited me back in here to get to know each other…but I feel like I already know you so this really isn't all that necessary."

"Then let me get to know you…you're a friend of Caleb's and because Caleb and I are…well Caleb and I…"

"So you two are getting back together?" she cuts Hanna off.

Hanna opens her mouth and then closes it back as she thinks about her answer. Were they getting back together? They loved each other, there was no doubt about it and they had spent the last 18 hours together, proving that to one another. She smiled and opened her mouth again.

"Nothing is gonna keep us apart." a deep voice before her makes her swing her head around.

Caleb stands in the doorway leading to the bedroom, shirtless with his jeans hanging low on his hips. He was rocking some seriously sexy bed head and his sleepy eyes gleaming at her as he offered up his signature grin. She smiled back at him as he walks over to her, kissing her head "Good morning beautiful." he whispers against her forehead and kisses her again before he looks back up at Kamie "Morning Kam."

"Good morning, don't mind me gagging over here." She says sarcastically as she watches Caleb and Hanna get lost staring at each other "So, that's a yes?" she asks again.

Hanna looks over at her confused. She had completely forgotten that someone else was in the room with them "Huh?"

"So that is a yes that you two are getting back together?" she says again.

Hanna glances back over her shoulder to Caleb who watches her "Yeah, nothing is going to keep us apart."


	12. Chapter 12

**Alright guys, I am gonna go ahead and get this out there. Let me know what you think!**

* * *

The air almost cracks between the two as Kamie clears her throat to let them know she was still in the room "Well…now that we've established that you two are so sweet it's sickening…I guess this means I can get the big apartment then, right C?" she asks with a wag of her eyebrows.

Peeling his eyes off of Hanna's he laughs and asks "What are you talking about Kam?"

"You know...your apartment is bigger than mine so when you move back to New York...you mind letting me have it?"

Caleb shoots Hanna a look that she can't tell if it is one of panic or worry at the mention of moving back to New York. He glances quickly away and back at Kamie "We'll see."

He makes his way across the room, walking past his friend lounging on her elbows across the counter to pick his phone up from where he discarded it the night before in haste. Glancing down, he slides it open and reads a text with a chuckle "Are you dead or were the odds ever in your favor with Hanna? Call me back." he quotes as he looks back up to Kamie "Nice Kam."

"What? I was genuinely concerned...about both scenarios..." she says with a smile

Hanna finally notices of how much the two act like brother and sister, and if she hadn't spent the first few days being bitter about Kamie she might've caught onto it before now. As her first thoughts of Caleb and Kamie as a couple come to her mind, it makes her giggle. The two turn to look over in her direction confused. She quickly covers her mouth to recompose herself.

Caleb glances back down to his phone and notices the time "Shit. We gotta check out soon. I need to get my stuff together."

"Don't worry about it, I cut my date short with Noel what's his face got all our stuff packed and ready to go….we just got to get downstairs and check out." Kamie says as she looks down at her nails and then back up to him "What? I had some time to kill. Dude, he has a serious ego problem."

He quickly puts his phone in the front pocket of his jeans and turns to look for his t shirt. Picking it up he throws it over his shoulder and starts to look for his shoes. As he collects his things from where they were scattered throughout the living room, Hanna watches him and tries her hardest not to let the dread of a goodbye now bring tears to her eyes. They had only gotten back together a couple hours ago and already their bubble of bliss had been busted with him having to leave so soon.

"I can call downstairs and pull some strings...maybe get you a later check out..." Hanna calls out to him.

"You don't have to do that Han, I wouldn't want to put Ash - uh...Ms. Marin in a tight spot" he says as he runs his hands into the cushions of the couch "Have you seen my wallet?"

"Yeah...on the bedside table." she says, her voice barely a whisper.

She was just about to open her mouth and beg him to stay when he walks to her, kissing her forehead as a thank you on his way to the bedroom.

She looks back and forth between the bedroom and Kamie who stands across from her. With a friendly smile and a nod in the direction of the door behind her Kamie whispers "Just tell him I will be over in our room." and heads for the door, shutting it quietly behind her.

"Nothing is gonna keep us apart."

Hanna whispers to herself as she walks towards the bedroom, fully prepared to beg him to stay with her. She stops just inside the doorway and watches him before looks up and spots her.

"Everything okay?" he asks, his voice sending chills up and down her spine.

She quickly sucks in a breath and slowly makes her way over to him. Standing on her tiptoes and wraps her arms around his neck "No. I just got you back…and I'm not ready to let you go just yet."

He unfolds his arms and wraps them around his around her waist, kissing her on the forehead when he does "Well...who says I was gonna let you let me go? I had planned on taking Kam back to Philly and picking up some things and coming back to you…if you'll have me, that is."

Pulling back from his embrace she looks up at him "You don't have to go back for work?"

He shrugs "Not really. I can always bring my work with me." he glances down at her "As long as you don't mind my laptop being here with me so I can check things out."

She smiles and steps up to kiss his chin "No...No, bring your laptop...do your work here. As long as you're coming back to me, I don't care what you bring. I will take you anyway I can get you."

"Were you gonna persuade me to stay? Because that sounds like something I could get into." he says flirtatiously.

She giggles, "More like beg you not to leave."

"Oh, that sounds like it could get interesting too." he says as he places a kiss behind her ear.

"You are such an ass." she says with a smile.

Pulling his head down to hers she plants a kiss on his lips once, then twice. On the third kiss she pushes her tongue past his lips as he pulls her tighter to his chest to deepen the kiss. Pulling back he trails kisses down from her jawline to her neck, making her let out a soft moan.

"We still...have...a couple...minutes" she whispers in between kisses.

"You're right...we do." he says as he picks her up and lays her down on top of the bed.

* * *

With a smile plastered on her face, Hanna sits on the edge of the bed re-buttoning her shirt as she watches Caleb pull his jeans back up over his hips. The muscles in his back bulging and stretching as he moves to button them.

"Enjoying the view?" he asks over his shoulder with a smile.

She pulls her knees to her chest and wraps her arms around them "Ya know, it should really be illegal...the view...because it could get into a whole lot of trouble."

He walks over to her side of the bed and sits down in front of her, grasping chin in his hand and kisses her "Trouble you wanna be in, right because I mean..." he trails off as she playfully smacks his chest and giggles.

"God, I've missed this..." he says as he picks up one of her hands and rubs his thumb over the back of her knuckles

"Me too,"

"And I know we don't have time to get into it right now...but I'm willing to do whatever it takes to make this work...the distance, whatever...we will find a way to make it work. I just want you to know that."

Tears start to burn the back of her eyes "Nothing is gonna keep us apart." she whispers back to him then clears her throat to reel them back in "We will figure it out...but you sir need to hurry home and get back to me because we have plans tonight." she says as she leans forward until they are almost nose to nose.

"Oh really? What's that?" he asks, his lips brushing hers.

"I'm having dinner tonight at my moms, and you're coming with me...consider it like meeting my parents..." she says with grin when she notice his wide eyes "What? You know my mom loves you...and considering your first time meeting her, this time will be a piece of cake."

"You know, strangely enough that's actually really comforting..." he chuckles "Okay I'll do it. I'll go...but now, I really do gotta go so I will make it back in time."

They stand and walk towards the door, Hanna wrapping both her arms around his, lacing their fingers together and resting her chin on his shoulder.

"I won't be gone too long. Will you still be at the hotel when I get back or do I need to meet you at your moms?" he asks as they reach the door.

"No, I...I''ve got some business I need to take care of before we go. My assistant is covering for me at work and she's been blowing my phone up so just come back here." she says as she picks up an extra hotel key card from a table beside the door. She holds it up in front of him and he takes it from her, putting it in his pocket.

"Miss me while I'm gone?" he asks as he opens the door and leans down to kiss her.

"Of course." she says as she runs her hands down the front of his chest

With his other hand he reaches up to tuck a strand of hair behind her ear "I love you Hanna Marin."

She smiles and nods "I love you too." she says and kisses him again "Now hurry up and get back to me...but be careful."

"I will." he says, kissing her one more time before heading back to his room.

Closing the door, she leans her back on it and wraps her arms around her waist and smiles.

 _And see, you almost didn't come back for the reunion..._

She happily skips back to the bedroom she picks up her phone from the nightstand and slides it open to text her mom.

 **Oh, BTW I'm bringing a date to dinner, so get another place setting ready. :)**

Falling back onto the bed with a smile spread across her face she holds the phone tightly to her chest just as it buzzes twice in her hands. Sliding it open she sees two messages, one from her mom

 **Okay...do you have something you need to tell me?**

The other from Caleb

 **Missing you already. I love you...I'm never gonna get tired of telling you that.**

Giddy with all the emotions in her head and happenings over the few days, she lets out a laugh and squeal. She had gotten back the one thing she knew she would always need in her life and there was nothing else she wanted more than him.

* * *

Sitting up she pulls out her laptop from beside the bed and tugging it into her lap. She opens it pulling up Skype, and finding Caroline's handle. When the screen pops up her request is almost immediately answered as her assistant's face pops up on the screen.

One thing she always vowed to do when she made it big and had an assistant of her own, was to never treat them the way designers had treated her. There were no demanding coffee runs before she arrived at the office. No certain kinds of chewing gum that she demanded to be placed all around her office and in her bags. No grueling schedules that they had to accommodate to that they couldn't have a life. She had lived that life and it had cost her something more important that any promotions were ever worth. So when she saw the time she immediately felt bad for possibly interrupting Caroline's Sunday morning sleep.

"Hey boss!" she called out and a sip from her HMR company mug before sitting it back down on the desk "How was your reunion?" she asks as she moves closer the desk, crossing her arms in front of her.

"It was...amazing...and I have so much to tell you. Sorry for getting on so early on Sunday...did I interrupt you? I can call back."

"Nope. Just getting ready to email some documents over to you from the investors."

Hanna can't help but smile at the fact that Caroline reminded her so much of herself. She genuinely loved the business and was always eager to learn more about it. She was a business major but dropped out to pursue fashion. She had amazing opinions about not only what would sell and look good, she also knew good business. She had hired her several years ago as an intern but kept her after her internship ended and promoted to design assistant. She knew she would one day be bringing Caroline on as co-designer, but she was also one of Hanna's closest friends outside of her home town besties.

"SO, you wanna tell me why you got that cutesy grin on your face or should we talk business first?"

Hanna pulls herself out of her daze and back to reality "Well, you know my policy of girl time first but maybe we should start with business since I've been MIA." she laughs.

"Alright...well...have you checked your email?" she asks as she gathers some papers in her hand from the desk

"No, I just got up. Do I need to?"

"Uh, no...I emailed you everything but I can just tell you most of it. They loved the portfolios you sent over and they did request a couple samples of some dresses as well as a few things from the men's line." she says as she flips through some of the pages "Nothing too serious, I think we already have some of what they want to see already done as samples so I will have them sent over tomorrow."

"Awesome. So whatever we don't have just sent off orders for the fabric distributors and I will get started as soon as I get back to New York." she says as she scrambles through the bed covers for her cell.

Caroline pulls out a pen and starts to scribble it down "Okay, got it. Now...and this is the BEST part. They agreed to the investment deal, and come back with the deal of a lifetime. I emailed all the details they sent over to you. They want you to do a some collaboration designs with some of the best designers."

Hanna's mouth falls open with excitement "WHAT?!. Although she was already well established in the fashion industry, she still got star struck over some brand name designers. She had worked with some before, but there were several that she had always dreamed to work with...even be in the same room with.

"Yes, and I am no legal guru so I forwarded it onto the legal team but I can say that I saw first class flights there and back, rental car, and rental house while you're there...the works. All on them. They are essentially paying for you to come and design with some people that you will no doubt fan girl over." Caroline says with excitement.

"House? Wow. That is pretty extravagant. I could just stay in a hotel and save them some money." Hanna says with a laugh.

"Three months in a hotel? Are you crazy...one week at a time in a hotel is all I can handle." she says as she looks back down at the papers in her hand

Hanna's stomach falls "Wait, did you say three months?"

 _Caleb..._

"So I would need to be in Europe for three full months? Leaving when?" Hanna asks as she can feel the sick feeling in her once excited stomach rises to her throat and she starts to feel the need to vomit.

 _This cannot be happening..._

"Well if you agree to the terms, they want to start as soon as next week."

Hanna puts her head in her hands and runs her hands through her hair. "This cannot be happening..." she whispers to herself this time out loud.


	13. Chapter 13

"Okay...not exactly the reaction I thought I would get...boss, is everything okay?" Caroline asks concerned.

"Yeah...I uh...yeah." Hanna says distractedly as she finally finds her phone and opens up her inbox. She glances over everything that was sent over, reading as quickly as she can

"You're doing that thing...that fidgety thing you do when you're nervous. Why are you so nervous...?"

Hanna drops her phone back onto the bed and runs her hands through her hair. "I'm not, I uh...I just can't agree to anything until I read over it all. When-when do they need an answer?"

"As soon as possible so they can get started on all the paperwork. Are you sure everything is okay? Did something happen?"

Hanna sighs "Yeah, Caleb happened." she whispers turning her attention back to the screen "I uh...I gotta go. I will get check back in with you later. Thank you Caroline for dealing with this for me. I really appreciate it."

She offers a sincere smile "You're welcome. Have fun! See you on Wednesday!"

Hanna hits the escape button a lot harder than she normally would as tosses the computer out of her lap and onto the foot of the bed.

 _What the hell just happened? You just got offered a deal of a lifetime, at the wrong time-that is what. What am I gonna do? Think Hanna, think! Well, I can't expect Caleb to make 3 months and 5000 miles work on a practically brand new relationship...and I can't ask him to quit his job, pack up his life and come with me. Can I turn it down? It will hurt like hell, but I could turn it down if I had to. Chances are they'd pull the investment deal too, unless I could find something wrong with it..._

She stands and picks up her laptop to head into the living room and print everything off before heading back to the bedroom. She sits back down on the bed with her laptop in front of her and starts flipping through the pages. She reads through everything twice looking for anything, any little thing that she could claim as a nonnegotiable reason to turn it down. Frustrated and relieved when she can't find anything she throws herself back onto the bed.

 _Dammit!_

* * *

Caleb slides the card down into the door and when the light turns green he pushes the door open and steps inside. "Han?" he calls out as he walks back into the suite he left just a few hours earlier, pulling the door closed behind him. He sits his bag down beside the table at the door and tosses the key card back on top. Noting that it is entirely too quiet in the suite he calls out again "Han?"

When he doesn't hear any movement or any reply he quietly walks towards the bedroom door, and peeks inside. Hanna is curled up on top of the covers, a laptop and papers scattered all around her sound asleep. He props himself up in the doorway with his shoulder and takes in the sight before him. A smile spreads over his face when he hears her soft snores echoing through the silence, knowing that she only snored when she was absolutely exhausted.

Feeling nostalgic he thinks of nights back in New York when he would see her like this, exhausted from a day doing whatever crazy errands for whatever demanding designer she was working for at the time. She often fell asleep on the computer in a scattered pile of files or sketches, sometimes she would fall asleep sitting up or carrying on conversations. She ran herself ragged a lot of times and never got any recognition or praise. At the time when he made her choose between him and her job, he was so angry because deep down he knew that she deserved better than the treatment she was receiving. The words fell right out of his mouth that night before he could stop them, and then she was gone. He had spent so many years so angry about the whole thing and so proud of her at the same time.

Walking over to the bed he slowly sits down beside her on the bed, careful not to wake her as he closes the laptop and puts it on the nightstand. He quietly gathers the papers scattered across the bed and pulls the covers up and over her legs. She stirs slowly when he tries to take the paper out of her grasp and opens her eyes. Her sleepy smile is infectious and it makes a smile spread across his lips.

"Hey. You're back." She whispers as she stretches under the covers "I've missed you."

He chuckles "I've missed you too, sleepy head." he says as he lies down beside her "Is what you do at work? If so, this is the kind of job I need."

"Hey, I did work..." she says playfully as she cuddles into his side, putting her head on his shoulder "and then I took a nap."

"I see that. This what you were working on?" he asks as he holds up the papers in his hand.

Hanna quickly takes the papers out of his hand "I uh...yeah, this is just the stuff from my investors meeting the other day. Caroline emailed it to me this morning...so I was just looking over everything." she says as she thumbs through the papers.

"Investors deal? They make you an offer you can't refuse?"

"Yeah, something like that." she laughs as she looks down at the papers in her hand "I'm looking to expand the brand...I was supposed to be in Europe this weekend working this big investment deal but I told them I needed to be here instead."

"You canceled on Europe?" he asks. She nods her head yes and looks up at him.

"At least this time it worked out in my favor..." he says with a laugh. When he notices her wide eyes he stops "It was...it was supposed to be a joke. I'm sorry, is it too soon?"

"Maybe just a little." she says with a forced smile then falls silent letting out a heavy sigh. She had been going over it again and again in her mind, trying to find a way to tell him about the offer. To ask him to come with her so they could finally see Europe together. To tell him she'd turn it down if he wouldn't or couldn't. Just when she had she thought she had enough nerve to tell him she opens her mouth and he cuts her off.

"So...while I was back in Philly I talked to my boss to tell him I'd be working from here for the next couple days...and I asked about transferring to our New York office." Hanna sits up and looks down at him, and he quickly sits up with her "That is if you want me to."

"New York?" she whispers

"Yeah. I know it's soon, but your work is based there so it just makes more sense that I come to you..." he says with a shrug "The transfer will take a couple weeks to get finalized so that will give me some time to find a place and get settled." Hanna stays quiet so he continues "He told me I would need to keep up with my clients back in Philly at least until I can pick up some clientele in New York. So that would mean one weekend a month and if any emergencies came up I would need to be there but otherwise I would be base primarily out of New York."

"You're seriously going to uproot your life to come to New York?" she whispers again as tears well up in her eyes.

He picks up her hand "If you want me to. I told you I would do anything to make this work...and if that means moving jobs, that's just what I will have to do."

"No...no...I want you with me...in New York...it's just" she trails off and closes her eyes to collect all her thoughts

"What? If it's too soon I can stay in Philly and we can do the long distance thing...I just figured..."

"It's just that...you don't need to look for a place because you have one...with me...we already have a place." she says taking his face in her hands.

"Han, are you sure? I can-" he is cut off when she pulls his lips back to hers and kisses him hard.

 _Decision made._

* * *

"Caleb, just please untuck your shirt and relax." Hanna calls out to him from the bathroom where she curls her hair in the mirror. He shoots her a questioning look from the bedroom where he has been getting dressed "I know you're trying to make a 'good impression' or whatever...but you could show up to my mom's in a prison jumpsuit and she would say 'What kind of trouble has my daughter gotten you into now'...she loves you, quit worrying."

"Han, it's been a long time since I had dinner at the Marin house...I just-"

Hanna tosses the curling iron down onto the counter and walks into the bedroom to get her clothes on "Considering the first time she met you, you were sneaking out of our basement and still ended up loving you might I add so I don't she will care that your shirt is untucked this time. So I need you to take it down a notch on the nerves." she says as she gives him a playful kiss on the cheek. She walks over to the closet and pulls out the dress she had planned on wearing and throws it down on the bed and turns around to face him as he pulls the tail of his shirt out.

Walking around behind him she wraps her arms around to his waist "See? You feel more comfortable with this already." She quickly kisses his shoulder and turns to walk away.

"Oh no you don't." he calls out as he spins around and grasps her arm pulling her back to him. He wraps his arms around her waist as she throws her arms over his shoulders as her fingers slide into the hair just above his collar. "I'm just nervous because I didn't really do right by you the last time...I know that, and I'm sorry. I just want to put my best effort out there to show her that this time, won't be like last time. To show her that she can count on me to take care of you, and be someone you can depend on, that's all. She may have loved me before but a lot has happened since then."

"She'll get that. My mom understands what happened before a lot better than you're thinking she does trust me. She still knows you aren't a bad guy. Hell, I lived with her for 18 years so she KNOWS how big of a pain in the ass I am." she reassures him. "Give her a speech like that one and I witness it, and you will so be getting laid when we get back here." she flirts as she slinks out of his arms and back to her dress on the bed.

* * *

Thirty minutes later they pull up outside of the Marin/Wilson house. Hanna pulls down the sun visor and fixes her lipstick in the mirror before turning back to face Caleb who sits watching her.

"You're beautiful...you know that?" he asks her, catching her totally off guard. She leans over the console and places her lips on his. Pulling back she giggles then reaches over and wipes her lipstick off his lips.

Getting out of the car they walk up the driveway hand in hand and when they reach the front porch Hanna reaches out and rings the doorbell.

DING. DONG. DING.

"Coming!" they can hear Ted yell from the other side of the door followed by quick footsteps then the door swings open. Standing across the threshold is Ted. "Hanna!" he exclaims as he reaches out to hug his step daughter "It's good to have you home kid. We've missed you around here!"

With her dad not really in her life anymore, totally by his own choices, Ted had really stepped up and treated Hanna as his own. She couldn't have asked for a better man for her mom to marry.

"Hi Ted. It feels good to be home." she says before she pulls back from him and looks over her shoulder at Caleb who stands awkwardly behind her. She grabs his hand "You remember Caleb?" she asks as she pulls him forward.

Ted's eyes shift between the two and he smiles "Of course I do. It's good to have you back in the house. How have you been?" he asks sticking his hand out to shake Caleb's.

"Hi sir...I've been making it, doing a lot better recently." he says as he glances over to Hanna with a smile before turning his attention back to Ted "How are you?"

"Great. We've been doing really great. Well come on it guys." he says as he moves out of the doorway so they can enter. Caleb walks in first, never letting go of Hanna's hand until Ted stops her walking in. He leans in close to her ear "Your mother is going to be so happy about this." he says with a smile and the door behind them.

"Where is mom?" Hanna asks as she takes off her jacket to put in the coat closet and looks around the foyer.

"She's upstairs getting ready; she just got dinner in the oven a little while ago. I'll go get her." he says as he turns and disappears up the stairs.

Caleb peels his jacket off and hands it to Hanna who waits to hang it up with hers. Shutting the closet door she turns around and looks at him as he takes in his surroundings.

"This place still looks exactly the same." he says then looks at her "I figured it would look different by now."

"Yeah, and you thought they would look at you like you had grown two heads too and THAT didn't happen...I told you this wouldn't be as bad as you thought." she says and they share a laugh. "Come on, let's sit down in the kitchen." she says as she grabs his hand and pulls him into the kitchen.

Caleb sits down at the breakfast bar as Hanna opens the refrigerator and looks around before shutting it and heading for the oven to open it. Looking inside he can barely hear moan of appreciation for what she saw and it makes him laugh. Hanna loved food and although she referred to herself as still a fat kid at heart, he loved it about her. She would constantly sneak food into the bedroom while he was asleep when they lived together and he would never know until he found the wrappers or bowls the next morning.

The sound of heels coming down the stairs and then clicking on the tiles pulls him out of his admiration and he can instantly feel his pulse quicken and his palms sweat. Wiping them on his jeans he watches as Hanna walks past him and to her mom who he knows must be behind him by now.

"There she is ladies and gentleman. My daughter Hanna Marin home for the first time in I don't know how long." she says. He doesn't even have to turn around to see how excited she is because he can hear it in her voice.

"Hey mom."

"Hi honey. It's good to have you here." Ashley says as she hugs her daughter tightly. Ashley gasps "Oh my gosh." and it makes Caleb turn around in his stool to look.

Hanna glances back over her shoulder and Caleb and back to her mom who has her eyes fixed on him "Mom, you remember-"

"Caleb! Oh my gosh." she says as she walks towards him with her arms open. He quickly stands from his stool and swallows hard before bending down to hug Ms. Marin "It's so good to see you. I had no idea..." she says as she pulls back but keeps her hands on his arms to look him up and down "What's it been 7 or 8 years? How have you been?"

"I've been good Ms. Marin." he says as he glances nervously at Hanna who watches with an 'I told ya so' smile on her face.

"It's Ashley, please. You know that!" she scorns. She glances back over her shoulder at Hanna "So, did you guys meet back up at the reunion?" she asks as she walks over to the counter and grabs a bottle of wine and some wine glasses before turning back to them.

As she looks around the kitchen for the corkscrew Hanna steps up beside Caleb and slides her arms around his and laces their fingers together. "We actually did meet back up but it was before the reunion. Caleb was staying at The Radley too...so we ran into each other there. Then we all had dinner together too...and now..." she calls out before looking over at Caleb who watches her closely "Caleb and I are..."

"Well, this deserves a toast then." Ashley says interrupting her as she brings them two glasses filled with wine. They both look up at her and she smiles back at them holding up the glasses. They both reach up and take the glasses with their free hands, never letting go of each other.

Ted comes to stand beside Ashley, bringing her glass with him when he does. They raise their glasses "To new beginnings." Ashley says with a smile as they all clink their glasses together. They take a sip of wine and Ted wraps his arm around Ashley as they watch Hanna and Caleb together.

The two stands looking at each other like they always did, like they were the only two people in the room. Caleb leans over and kisses Hanna's forehead and Ashley starts to feel the tears prick at the back of her eyes.

The timer goes off on the oven and Ashley sits her glass down on the counter as she rounds it to take dinner out of the oven. "Dinner is ready!" she says as she pulls the lasagna out of the oven and sits it down. "I figured since it's nice out that we could have dinner out on the patio so make yourselves comfortable."

"I actually need to run to the restroom really quickly. I will be right back." Hanna says as she sits her glass down on the counter. Turning to leave the room she stops beside Caleb and whispers "You good?" and he shakes his head yes before she turns to walk out heading up the stairs.

"So Caleb, where are you living at now?" Ashley asks as she hands Ted a basket of bread to carry outside to the table set up on the patio.

"I'm actually living in Philadelphia right now but I'm hoping to get transferred to New York soon."

"That's great! You come back to Rosewood much or are you like Hanna and have to be practically forced to come back?" she asks with a laugh as she turns to grab plates out of the cabinet.

"I've been back a couple times, not really as much as I should though..." In the awkward silence he can hear his heartbeat in his ears "I love your daughter Ms. Marin." he blurts out quickly making her turn to face him as she sits the plates down "I mean I've always loved your daughter. I know that I didn't exactly make the right decisions the last time. I did and said somethings that I have regretted every day since the day I left her in New York. I won't make those mistakes again...they cost me too many years without her that I can't get back."

"Caleb I -"

"I just needed you to know that...and I know to other people it seems like we're moving so fast, but with us, it feels right. I want to make her happy, I want to protect her, I want to provide for her...and I don't have much and I sure as hell don't have as much as the Jordan guy had but I want to give her everything I can."

Ashley walks around the bar closer to him "Caleb, listen to me. You do not need to explain anything to be, okay?" she asks and he nods.

"From the moment I met you, I could tell by the look in your eye that you loved her and I'll admit that I tried to push you away from her at first but I was just trying to protect her. When you first came into her life, she was dealing with the trauma from losing a friend and then her dad leaving, I had watched her cry herself to sleep too many times. I should've apologized for that a long time ago but you changed her life then and probably didn't even realize you had done anything, but I saw it I can still see that look in your eyes and I can see the genuine smile on my daughter's face which I haven't seen in a very long time. So you don't have to explain anything to me because it took me two seconds to see it." she says as she pulls him in for a tight hug "I am so happy that the two of you have found your way back to each other and I'm sorry that you both lost those years apart...but maybe in a way you both needed them to appreciate how genuine the love between the two of you really is. Don't worry about money or material things and things that you don't have, just do what you've always done...and love her like I know you always have..."

Stepping back she looks at him just as she hears Hanna walk down the stairs "And please call me Ashley" she says giving him a wink and smile. She walks back over to grab the plates just as Hanna rounds the corner and joins them.

"So Caleb, you say you're going to be transferring to New York soon? That so you can be closer to Hanna?" she says as she walks past the two headed for the patio.


	14. Chapter 14

As the night wears on, there is no mention of Caleb's confession to Ashley. The two occasionally would exchange an understanding glance or two and maybe a nod from across the table. They had formed a pretty close bond; closer than most boyfriends get with their girlfriend's mothers but they pretty much had to. Hanna lived no ordinary life and when Hanna had gone missing Ashley had made herself sick worrying. Caleb tried to take care of things the best he could not just because he knew that's what Hanna would've wanted but because he had spent more time with her over the years than he had with his own mother.

When Hanna got out and back home, she pushed everyone away which only made Ashley and Caleb's bond tighter. They wanted what was best for her, and they both tried their hardest to make sure she was okay. This involved many shared looks from across rooms the years just to let the other know _'I got this_ ' or _'she's fine_ ' when Hanna would have a meltdown. Tonight, there were no meltdowns and no one was missing, so the looks weren't as frantic as they used to be...but he knew she understood him.

"So Caleb, you still doing the tech thing? I remember you were always so good with computers?" Ted asks as he takes a bite of his lasagna.

"Yes sir, I'm working for a company that handles tech security...firewalls, backups, and things like that. "he says as he takes a sip of wine" The company I'm working for now actually works along with the company I was with in New York."

"Sounds like something that should be beneficial at the hotel. Would that help with any data breaches? I mean, we have a tech team that works on our system...but you can never be too careful these days." Ashley asks intrigued.

"We couldn't completely prevent it from happening, but it does make it harder for someone to hack in when you have someone constantly updating your firewall systems and looking for loopholes in the system that someone could get in through and fixing them on the spot. I have to say with big businesses like yours, they usually do better with someone handling the daily computer processing since you handle all of your business on a computer system and another handling the protection of all your data...that way each team can focus on a specific task instead of one team handling everything. "he says confidently that it makes Hanna smile.

She knew that he had a brilliant mind when it came to computers. He had used that mind more times than she could ever count to help her and her friends. She knew he had hacked, tracked and disabled systems for them than he probably did on a daily basis with his job. Hearing him talk it techno babble that she knew nothing about, made her swell with pride at just how smart he really is.

"Well, I'm sold." she says as she looks over at her husband and back to Caleb before she sags back in her chair. "Where do I sign? Could you handle that or would I need to just get in contact with your corporate company and just request you as my rep?"

Caleb glances over his shoulder at Hanna who smiles back at him and gives him and encouraging nod. He turns back to the red head across from him "Yes ma'am. I uh...I could get the request in when I get back to Philadelphia later this week."

"Great. I will let my current tech people know...as long as this doesn't interfere with your transfer." she says and gives him a smile then turns her attention to Hanna "Oh, speaking of work...I almost forgot...how did your meeting go?"

Hanna stops mid bite and looks over at her mom with wide eyes "I uh...it um, it went pretty really good." she says as she sits her fork down and leans back in her chair "They made a pretty good deal. I didn't like some things that they offered but I'm having my lawyers look over everything before I agree to any terms."

"Smart girl." Ted throws out with a smile.

"Well? Are they going to invest?" Ashley asks as she takes another drink of her wine.

"I don't know. If I don't agree to the terms then probably not." Hanna replies, feeling a twinge of regret already surfacing deep in her gut. She glances up from her plate and then over to Caleb who watches her closely, offering a smile when their eyes meet and it makes goosebumps break out all over her arms.

"So, then are you back to square one?" Ashley asks again.

"Most likely." Hanna sighs, not really wanting to talk about it, especially when she didn't know what she was going to do.

"Well, is what they are asking really a big enough deal to turn it down?"

Hanna looks over at Caleb and he smiles back at her and suddenly the feeling shes been fighting disappears when he reaches over and grabs her hand under the table running his thumb over her knuckles. "Yes."

* * *

Hanna wakes up hot, her bare back up against Caleb's bare chest. His arm thrown over her side and resting on the mattress. She glances over her shoulder and smiles when she sees him there, something that she was still sure had to be a dream. Slowly she rolls over careful not to wake him to watch him sleep. Carefully reaching up, she runs her fingers lightly through glorious bed head mess of chocolate brown strands that peppered his face.

 _Damn_. H _e's hot even when he sleeps._

She thinks as she pulls her fingers from his hair and places her hand on his chest, feeling his heart beat against her palm. She almost giggles when she has her proof that he is in fact real and laying beside her in her bed, and not a dream she was having. She freezes when he opens his eyes and looks at her. He wraps his arm tighter around waist and pulls her closer to his chest before falling immediately back to sleep. She snuggles in close, putting her head in the crook of his neck. She breathes in the familiar scent of his skin as she shuts her eyes to try and drift back to sleep.

 _Man, how did I survive not being able to do this for so long?_

She thinks to herself and she settles in next to him. Her eyes fly open as the thought leaves her mind, the wheel turning in her head about Europe. When she can't seem to get her thoughts to shut off, she carefully lifts his arm and crawls out of the bed. She watches him closely as she walks to the foot of the bed and picks up his t-shirt that was tossed there when they got home. Pulling it over her head she tiptoes back to the nightstand and grabs her phone and her laptop to do some late night work. Walking back into the living room portion of the suite, she sits down at the makeshift desk area and pulls up her email.

Her eyes immediately fall on an email from her lawyers about the deal. She opens it up and skims over the notes they've made. Her stomach is in knots when she's done reading...the deal is good, really good according to the team she had hired. They had carefully picked through all the material Caroline had forwarded to them and they couldn't find any negative points.

 _What am I going to do? I haven't even told Caleb yet. How could I possibly make a decision like this? I don't really have an option. The two things I want more than anything and I have to choose again. I can't go and leave him behind, not now after everything we've been through._

She sighs and runs her hands over her face before sagging back in her chair. She stares up at the ceiling, weighting the pros and cons out until she finally makes up her mind. This was not going to be what tore them apart, not again. She was going to make the right choice this time. She sighs again before sitting up. She rolls her shoulders and then starts to type quickly and compose her email to the investors. Ten minutes later she is done and has just sat back to read over her polite decline to their offer.

"Hey beautiful" a deep voice purrs near her ear making her jump. "Come back to bed." he says, his hot breath on her neck sends chills down her spine as he wraps his arms around her.

"Sorry I couldn't go back to sleep so I thought I'd catch up on some work. I didn't want to wake you "she says as she leans her head against his and laces her fingers with his. "You looked so peaceful." she says with a smile.

"I was, but the bed gets lonely when you're not in it." he says as he kisses just behind her ear and puts his chin on her shoulder "What are you workin on?"

Her eyes widen as she focuses them on the screen in front of them "Just the email to the investors...letting them know I'm not going to take the deal."

"I thought you said it was a good deal. Did your lawyers suggest against it?"

"Oh...no. They said everything looked good...it's just not a good time...unless..." she says as suddenly an idea comes to mind and she turns to face him "Did you like Europe when you went? When we were supposed to go?"

He looks over her confused before he opens his mouth to answer "Yeah, had it been under different circumstances I might've had a better time but it's beautiful over there. Why? Have you never been?"

"Uh yeah I have...for work. Would you say that you liked it enough to go back?" she asks again quickly a feeling of hope blooming.

"I guess I would, yeah. Why?" he asks again, still confused.

"How would you feel about taking a vacation and going for a little while? Together." she says with a playful tone and smile, trying to lighten the mood.

"You have no idea how great that sounds..." he says with a smile "but with the transfer I will be so busy that I won't get any off time for a little bit. A couple months at least."

Hanna sighs as the feeling of hope she desperately clung to disappear "I figured that would be the case..." she says as she turns back towards the computer "Which is why I'm turning the deal down."

"Woah, wait." he says as he stands quickly and moves in front of her "Are you saying that they want you to come to Europe?"

Hanna shakes her head yes and lowers her eyes from him to her hands knotted in her lap. "Yeah, they um...they liked what I sent over for the meeting and they want to invest in HMR, but they also want me to come co-design with some designers over there..."

"Han, this is what you've always wanted. Why are you not taking it?" he asks as he crosses his arms over his chest

"Because..." she says simply, trailing off with a shrug of her shoulders.

"Because why?" he asks.

She stands from the chair pulling his arms apart and tugs on his hand "It's really nothing. Let's just go back to bed."

"No." he says pulls back against her grip making her turn back around to face him "I really want to know why you're turning this down."

She looks up at him for a long time before answering with a sigh "You said yesterday that my business is based out of New York so it makes sense for you to come there. Well, how can I let you uproot your life for me and then leave? You will be in New York, so it makes sense for me to stay..."

"And I will be in Philly for another couple weeks...you can take this and when you get back we can get the ball rolling for New York. We will be long distance anyway, so why not take it if this is something you really want?"

"Because..." she whispers and he gives her an exasperated look and she starts again "Because it's a hell of a lot longer than couple weeks Caleb. And we just got this figured out...I don't want to leave right now."

"How long?"

"They are talking 3 months, minimum...and I'm not going to lie, I want this. I want this so badly. They've seriously made me the deal of a lifetime...but I want you more. I want us more. I refuse to let it come first again...not after I just got you back. I said this time would be different and it will be."

"And if you don't go, they don't invest in HMR and you can't expand the line?" he asks.

She shakes her head yes and his face falls as he turns away from her. "It will be okay. The line will be fine without the expansion. I worked all that out with my people before we sat up the meeting...and there will be other deals that come along. Ones that will work better for us and our situation."

"You're right, this time will be different." he mumbles before turning back to face her He huffs and runs his hand through his still messy hair "That is why I refuse to let you turn this opportunity down."

"Wh-What?" she stumbles

"I forced you to choose once. I backed you into a corner and made you make a decision, me or your career. At the time I was so pissed about everything else that making you make that choice didn't bother me. You left and I had to live with that. Had I not made the decision to act like such a jackass, this probably would've turned out so differently...but cause I have lived with that choice for so long, it makes telling you to take this so much easier."

"I've already made up my mind." she says, throwing her arms in the air "I'm not going."

"Then change it again." he pleads as he reaches for her hands "I know you. You want this, you've always wanted this. There was a time when you wanted this so badly that it broke us up. You're too damn good at what you enjoy doing, not to take every opportunity given to you. So I'm not gonna sit back and let you say no."

"It's a long time." she whispers, tears pooling up in her eyes as she stares straight forward to his chest.

"It is a long time. Will it suck being away from you again after getting you back? Hell yes. It will suck every damn day...but we will get through it."

"What happens if-" she starts but he cuts her off

"It's not going to happen so don't even think about it." he says with a shake of his head.

She looks down at their hands try stop the tears that she already knows are about to fall, from falling "If I go, what would that mean for us?"

"It would mean a lot of phone calls and emails. It would mean a lot of hard work to make it work...but I'm willing to do that, if you are."

"Phone calls? Caleb, it's completely different day over there...it will be almost impossible to find a time when both of us-"

"Then we will have a lot of early morning wake up calls and late night conversations." he says with a chuckle "I don't want to let you go just yet...but I want you to be happy."

"I will be perfectly happy staying here, with you."

"You're telling me that you'll be happy turning this offer down? You're saying that you will never look back and regret the decision to NOT do this. I want to believe you so bad, but I don't. I can tell that by the look in your eyes that you're already dreading have to send that email."

She stands in silence never meeting his stare, obviously thinking over her answer before finally huffing and wiping her eyes again "Why does it feel like I am having to make this decision again? What happens if I go and it messes everything up?"

He pulls her to his chest and wraps his arms around her kissing her forehead "You don't have to choose this time Han. I don't want you to. I want you to go, I want you to do what makes you happy. I promise we will make it work and I will be waiting for you when you get back."


	15. Chapter 15

**Hey guys, kind of a short chapter this time. , I won't be around much for the next couple of weeks. I'm gonna go ahead and get this update out there, and I might get another out soon-ish. Let me know what you think!**

* * *

"Hanna! Hurry up or you're going to miss your flight!" Caleb calls out from the kitchen of his apartment to the closed bedroom door. He takes a drink of his coffee, sitting the mug down on the counter with a sigh "and your coffee is getting cold!"

They had left Rosewood together on Tuesday and went to New York so Hanna could handle all the necessary paperwork for her trip. He was so happy and proud of her for taking this opportunity that her talent had given her, even though he wasn't particularly excited to let her go so soon. He had asked her to sacrifice her career for him once before and he knew if she had made a different decision that time, she wouldn't be the successful woman she was now, and he would've been to blame.

They spent their last days in Rosewood hanging out with their friends and spending time together before they left for New York and coming back to Philadelphia yesterday so that she could fly out from here. He told her he would be okay driving back by himself but she insisted on coming with him.

When he arrived at her penthouse in Manhattan he was overwhelmed with how much money she actually had. He knew she was successful but seeing it in front of his eyes, made it all real which caused a little bit of an argument when they arrived.

* * *

 _She opened the door and walked through the room, tossing her stuff down by the door. He made his way through the open space of the living room and looked around as she followed behind him. The place was bigger than anything he had ever seen in the city. Their old apartment could fit in just the living room kind of huge._

 _"This is it." She said as the shut the door behind them. "I know it's a little girly but if you don't like it we can redecorate or look for something that we both like, together."_

 _"Han, this place is huge." He said as he strolled through the living room running his hand along the back of the leather sectional in the middle of the room. He got quiet as he looked around at the space around him. Counting up in his head how much he thought a place like this would cost and exactly how much overtime he would need to put in to afford the power bill._

 _She frowns back at him "You don't like it?"_

 _"No, it's not that..." he said as he turned to walk towards the kitchen bar top overlooking the living room "I like it. I love it actually...but what's a place like this cost a month? It must cost a fortune."_

 _She quickly joined him and followed behind him "You don't have to worry about it."_

 _He spun around on his heel to face her with a questioning look "What do you mean?"_

 _She looks up at him and smiles "I mean you don't have to worry about paying for it."_

 _He shoots her a look and huffs "Can we not have this conversation again, please?"_

 _The discussion had come up when they were on their way back to New York. He wanted to stay in Philly, get his New York clientele up and wait until she came back from Europe to move. He told her he would get rid of his apartment and move into Kamie's spare room until she got back to save up a little money. She told him not to worry about paying for anything and he acted like be didn't hear her, because he already had his mind made up that she wasn't doing it._

 _"I will just have to pull more commission in. It won't be a problem. It will take a little more time, but I will figure it out."_

 _"Caleb, it's not about the money, you know that right? Because that is not a big deal. I can take care of it until you get settled in."_

 _"Not a big deal? Not a big deal? It's a huge deal. You can't honestly believe that I am going to live here with you and have you pay for it, right? How am I supposed to take care of you if you foot the bills?" he said, raising his voice a little._

 _"Because of you, I am able to afford a place like this. You footed the bill for my tuition and you worked your ass off to put me through school. The only reason I have any of this is because you made the sacrifices that my own father wouldn't. Now, let me take care of this and shut up!" she shouted back at him._

 _He dropped his head, completely over the conversation when he spotted the table. They had bought most of their furniture at garage sales when they first moved to the city. The table had been the only item she had really splurged on and the only reason being was so they could have their families over for Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners. She was so excited the day they made their first big "adult" purchase. She squealed with kid like excitement when they left the store going on and on about how their kids would make so many memories at the table._

 _He walked over to where it sits in the breakfast nook "You kept the table?" he asked in a low voice as he ran his fingers over the scratch on the table top and smiled to himself._

 _The memory of too much to drink after a show she was helping with and a very heavy make out session that didn't make it to the bedroom came to his mind. She had sat down on the table to take off her too high, high heels whatever boss she had at the time demanded she wear. In her drunken state, she couldn't get them off so he reached down and started to fiddle with the clasp of them for her. Once they were off she wrapped her arms around his neck and called him her hero and he leaned down to kiss her. She giggled when he tossed the shoes onto the table beside her and ran his hands to her thighs to slide her off the table and carried her to the bedroom. The next morning when they woke up, they noticed the six inch scratch on the edge of the table top, caused by either the shoes or the sequins on her dress. There had been so much drama going on in their lives that neither of them even cared that they had ruined a five hundred dollar table, because it was finally a good night after so many shitty ones._

 _"Of course I did." she answered from behind him._

 _He tapped his fingertips on the table top again "That was a good night." he said to her over his shoulder._

 _"Yeah, it was." She sighed as she crossed her arms over her chest "It was the last good night we had before...so I kept it. Every time I saw that scratch I thought about that last good night."_

 _Suddenly, it didn't matter...the money, the distant, nothing. The only thing that mattered was having more good nights together. He turned to face her and hesitated for only a moment before he closed in the distance between them and pulled her lips to his._

 _"I want to take care of you Han. I want to give you the moon if that's what will make you happy." he whispered as he pulled back and rested his forehead against hers._

 _She runs her fingers through the hair at the back of his neck "I don't want the moon, I just want you...and I don't want to fight about the money. I just want you to be happy here with me. If that means we look for a smaller place, then we will look for a smaller place."_

 _"We will figure it out. Right now..." he said as he reached down and wrapped his hands around her thighs, making her squeal as he picked her up and walked over to sit her on the table "Right now, all I care about is having another good night."_

* * *

He sighs again and looks down at his phone for the time. Their last hours together were ticking off quickly and pretty soon they'd be saying goodbye again. The next couple hours would be hard, but he was determined to do it without complaint for her.

He walks towards his bedroom and knocks lightly on the door "Han? We have to pick Caroline up from the hotel in 20 minutes."

One thing that he learned about her career that also made him proud was the type of boss she was. When they arrived in New York and she started to arrange all the specifics of her trip, she told them she would only go if she could bring her assistant Caroline along with her. He asked her why she did that and her reply was simply _"She works hard and she deserves to get to experience this with me. Plus she is crazy talented."_

None of the asshole designers she worked for would've ever done that for her, all they wanted from her coffee and gum. They never once even really gave her a thank you or good job, much less let her join in on a once in a lifetime opportunity like this. Then again that was Hanna, always giving what she could for people she cared about. She arranged to have a car pick Caroline up from her apartment in New York and drive her to Philly. He offered up his guest room but Hanna put her in the nicest hotel in the city for the night so they could spend their last night together, alone. He could tell when he first saw the way the two worked together that they were close; it would do her some good to have a friend with her. It also gave him a little piece of mind that she would have someone with her over there so she didn't get too lonely.

"I-I'm almost ready!" she calls back to him from the other side of the door as she sits on the foot of his bed and looks around the room.

Truth be told, she was hiding out in here hoping to miss her flight. She stands and walks to the adjoining bathroom and wipes the tears from her eyes. She pulls her hair up into a messy bun and sighs...she looked like she had been hit by a bus, and she felt even worse. Today she should be happy and deep down somewhere she knew that she was but she could somehow push all those happy feelings down and out of her mind. Right now, she was sad she was sad and heartbroken that she was leaving behind something that was everything she always wanted, Caleb.

She opens the door then grabs her suitcase that sits by the door and starts roll it out into the living room where he sits on the couch on his laptop. He stands as she enters the room and they share a look. She knew the look, neither of them were ready to face this day. He puts on a fake smile and reaches for her luggage handle.

"I got this." He says as he tugs it forward and then turns back to look at her "Geez. I see your packing hasn't changed. Do you have your whole boutique in here?"

She giggles and playfully slaps his shoulder "Shut up! You know I have to pack for all kinds of events and weather conditions."

She walked over and picked up the coffee he had made her from the counter and took a sip. She couldn't help but smile when she realized he made it just how she liked it, after all these years. They really did know each other like a book, even after all these years. Just in the last couple of days, they had fallen into such a comfortable rhythm that she knew leaving would be so much harder than what she had first thought it would be.

She glances out the window at the pouring rain falling outside and huffs "Rain. Perfect...matches my mood."

He laughs and walks over to her, wrapping his arms around her waist and kisses her shoulder "Come on. It's not that bad. A little FaceTime, some emails, texts, talking for hours on the phone like we're teenagers again...all while you're doing something you've always dreamed of...it will be fun."

She spins in his arms to face him throwing her arms over his shoulders "I'd rather be here with you. Can I just play hooky and bail?"

He laughs again and presses his lips to her forehead "I should tell you yes...BUT I'm not going to."

She tries to sigh but a sob escapes her mouth and she puts her head in the center of his chest "I'm just going to miss you...so much."

He leans his chin down and rests it on the top of her head, running his hands up and down her back to soothe her "I'm gonna miss the hell outta you to pretty girl..." He lifts her head up to face him, wiping away the tears from under her eyes "But you gotta do this...you've always wanted to do this and pretty soon you'll be packing up over there and dreading having to leave and come back.

She laughs through her tears "Yeah right. As soon as I'm done I'm hopping on the first flight back to you."

"I doubt that. I've seen Europe, and you're going to love it over there."

"I might...but I love you more." she says as she looks up at him.

"And I love you most of all." he replies with a chuckle and a kiss to her forehead. "Now, hurry up before we miss your assistant's check out time and your flight."


End file.
